News and events
The School Congratulates Loughborough Team on its ‘Portas Pilot’ success
27 July 2012
The School of Business and Economics has congratulated the ‘Love Loughborough Partnership’ for its successful bid to become one of only 27 UK towns chosen as a ‘Portas Pilot’.
A Government scheme to boost town centre retail, to be run by retail guru Mary Portas, the Portas Pilot competition was fiercely contested with more than 400 towns across the UK submitting proposals.
The latest wave of successful bids was announced on 25th July by local Government Minister Grant Shapps who has been championing the scheme.
The School of Business and Economics is expected to play a key supporting role in the Loughborough Portas Pilot, utilising its expertise in marketing and retailing education and acting as a mentor for rejuvenation. The School is also looking at the possibility of running retail master classes for town centre businesses.
With more than 20 years’ teaching and research expertise at the School, Senior Lecturer in Retailing and Operations Management Cathy Hart, who advised on the Loughborough bid, commented:
“It's a wonderful coup for Loughborough and a fantastic opportunity for local stakeholders to come together to boost the town’s economy. We are delighted to be involved and to be able to contribute our retail knowledge for the benefit of the local community. We pride ourselves on engaging with organisations to produce research that matters and are looking forward to contributing to this scheme through our research, master-classes and our students’ social media knowledge.”
Download or request a brochure» 
