THE city is celebrating after successfully retaining its Purple Flag status for its evening and night-time economy.

Purple Flag is a town and city centre award – similar to the Blue Flag for beaches – which aims to raise the standard and broaden the appeal of town and city centres between the hours the hours of 5pm and 5am.

Areas awarded the Purple Flag are recognised for providing a vibrant and diverse mix of dining, entertainment and culture while promoting the safety and wellbeing of visitors and residents.

Steve Godwin, the business manager of the Salisbury BID who champion the award for Salisbury, said: “I am absolutely delighted to announce that Salisbury has retained its Purple Flag status once again. This year it was increasingly difficult given the many cuts in local authority and police funding and we were highly scrutinised by the two very experience assessors, who spent a whole night in the city in early December. We will be proudly flying the Purple Flag; as our city has been individually recognised for our efforts to promote a fun yet safe night time environment.”

Since 2007, the programme has awarded the Purple Flag status to more than 65 towns and cities in the UK and Ireland.

Purple Flag accredited areas have all reported a consistent increase in footfall and a decrease in crime within the city.

The Purple Flag programme is managed by the Association of Town and City Management which works alongside a partnership of key stakeholder groups backed by Government, police and businesses, as well as the UK sponsors Diageo Great Britain.

Salisbury will officially receive the new Purple Flag accreditation along with Dublin One, Leeds, Limerick, Maynooth, Paisley, Reading, Wexford and a further seven towns Dunfermline, Leicester Square, Newcastle under Lyme, Preston, Sheffield and Southend who have had their status renewed at an awards ceremony which will take place on February 8, in Carrick on Shannon, Ireland.