An organisation which aims to support businesses in Kendal and boost the local economy has appointed a new manager.
Peter Brendling, 60, of Mealbank, is the new manager of Kendal BID, which represents nearly 700 businesses in the town.
He said: "My role is to be the public face of Kendal BID, to be its point of contact, and to ensure we are communicating effectively with local businesses.
"It is about promoting Kendal businesses to local people and to the wider world and for me to be someone businesses can turn to for advice, support, and help with any issues which might arise."
He said Kendal BID was also keen to promote festivals and events in the town to attract more visitors.
Other plans included trying to provide more coach parking on the outskirts of Kendal and more active use of social media to promote local businesses.
He said: "I would also like to set up some forums featuring businesses which could benefit from the same type of customer.
"For example, a forum focusing on weddings could include cake makers, dress shops, and florists and would bring such businesses together to look at how they might work collaboratively to promote themselves."
He said he was confident about Kendal’s business future:
"One of the strengths of the town is it has a mix of national companies and also a lot of sole traders and independent shops."
Peter has spent much of his career in the travel and tourism industry, and one of his early jobs was working in the Caribbean teaching sailing and windsurfing:
"My claim to fame is that I taught Robert de Niro to windsurf!"
He was commercial director for Mountain Goat from 2014-2017:
“One of the things I am most proud of during that time is that we took over the Windermere Tourist Information Centre, which was in danger of closing, and turned its fortunes around."
For the past three years, he has his partner have run the successful The Bakehouse in Blackhall Yard in Kendal, his retail experience encouraging him to apply for the Kendal BID manager position:
"Businesses have gone through some quite difficult times with COVID.
"We have seen a lot of shops struggling and closing during that period and I really wanted to use my previous experience to try to make a difference to the business community in the town.”
Josh Macaulay, chair of Kendal BID, said: "I am very excited to have someone of Peter’s calibre and experience join the team as Kendal BID manager."
Mr Brendling can be contacted at manager@kendalbid.co.uk
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