Watford BID works for and is funded by town centre businesses, working together, investing in and improving the town centre.

Last week we held our second Watford BID Service Excellent Awards. Many thanks to everyone that voted via the Watford Observer or by filling in the voting postcards each finalist held. The awards ceremony was a sell-out event attended by 360 representatives from businesses, across all sectors in the town centre, at Watford Colosseum.

We love hosting the BID awards - not only is it a great fun event, it brings together town centre organisations and makes them feel proud to be part of their business community. It also helps drive forward an understanding of the value of customer service, recognising and rewarding those that do it well. All our finalists receive detailed feedback reports carried out by our independent mystery shoppers to help them identify their strengths and weaknesses and aid continual improvement.

We are grateful to our sponsors Murrill Construction, Project Centre, Metro Bank, HW Fisher, Aspect Property Group, Watford FC, Vibe 107.6 FM and the Watford Observer, who ensure we can put on a night to remember. If you want to know who our winners were or get a flavour for the night, then just visit the Watford BID website for details, photos and film.

So what else are we doing? We work closely with Watford Borough Council and intu on the major work happening in the heart of the town centre. Apart from the £180 million shopping centre development, which is on track for its phased opening from September this year, there is the work going on to redevelop the mid-section of High Street. This is vital to ensure the transition from new intu extension and the rest of the town centre is seamless for visitors to our town.

We’re also in close contact with Metro Bank and the company currently renovating the One Bell pub. You may have spotted that in both places we’ve provided wraps to go on the hoardings around the buildings to brighten up and waymark focal points in the town centre. We’re looking to do similar with St Mary’s Church when redevelopment there gets underway.

Our flower displays will be back this summer and we’re currently working on plans for the next Watford Food and Drink Week. You can follow what is happening in the town and at the BID by visiting: watfordbid.co.uk and watfordforyou.org.uk or find us on social media for news, offers and events.

- Maria Manion is chief executive of Watford BID