Purple Flag goes up (From Salisbury Journal)

Purple Flag goes up

9:24am Friday 15th February 2013 in News By Morwenna Blake

PURPLE Flags denoting Salisbury’s status as a safe, clean and entertaining place to be in the evening are being displayed around the city.

Then first flag was unfurled at a ceremony held at the Chapel nightclub on Thursday and additional flags are to be flown at other prominent sites around the city including The Cathedral Hotel, VooDoo and the Guildhall.

“We were presented with one Purple Flag after it was announced that we had achieve the award,” said Yvonne Pidgley from Salisbury Purple Flag steering group.

“We plan to get some more flags and other promotional material to display throughout the city centre and we will also work with businesses who want to join us in spreading the word about the success.” The flags are given to towns and cities as an acknowledgement of the efforts of authorities and the community to provide a safe and vibrant night time economy, akin to blue flags awarded to clean beaches.

Thursday also saw the launch of the Salisbury Purple Flag Charter where businesses in the city are being asked to sign up to show their support for the Purple Flag initiative.

The Charter seeks to promote and build on the links that already exists between businesses and to further highlight Salisbury as a fantastic city with so much history and old buildings that have been kept fresh and appropriate for its inhabitants and tourists.

The first signatory of this Charter was Mike Davies from Coffee Mocha who raised the first flag.