GUILDFORD FLIES THE PURPLE FLAG

Guildford has been awarded the prestigious Purple Flag accreditation for the eighth year running. A Purple Flag is an accreditation process similar to the Green Flag award for parks, and the Blue Flag for beaches. It leads to Purple Flag status for town and city centres that meet or surpass the standards of excellence in managing the evening and night time economy.

The Guildford Town Purple Flag Partnership Group (GTPFP) is led by Guildford Borough Council and Experience Guildford (the town’s Business Improvement District).

It includes a broad range of town and county organisations including: n Surrey Police n The Safer Guildford Partnership n Street Angels n Guildford Pub Watch

Lead councillor for Environment and Regulatory Services, Cllr James Steel, said, “Being awarded The Purple Flag is a direct result of our successful collaboration with partners. Working together, we can reduce crime, disorder, and anti-social behaviour making Guildford the principle choice for a safe night out in Surrey.

“To gain our accreditation, we demonstrated a range of engaging events, strong Purple Flag PR and many initiatives to improve safety. These included creating a safe space, providing a first aid ‘SOS bus’ on key nights and provision of training to staff working in Guildford’s businesses.

STAG PRINT INVESTS IN STATE-OF-THE-ART MACHINE

Guildford-based business, Stag Print, has invested in a state-of-the-art Komori LS29 print machine enabling it to double its production capacity.

The press is 11 metres by 5 metres in size and weighs 20 tonnes, making it bigger and better than any other machine the company has used before. With the added bonus of being extremely efficient and better for the environment.

The family-owned company with a 44-year heritage has also recruited a second highly experienced operator to run the machine.

Sushil Patel, managing director, Stag Print, said: “It’s been a very busy start to 2023. The installation of the Komori

LS29 in January, along with the arrival of our new team member, means we are full steam ahead and foresee an exciting year of growth for Stag Print.”

He added: “The machine is a huge leap in our production capability – from quality and efficiency to environmental impact.

“The venues in Guildford also work incredibly hard to ensure our town continues to be a safe, attractive and vibrant place to visit. We are really proud to be awarded the Purple Flag for our evening and night-time economy showing our commitment to a great night out in Guildford.”

More information on our Purple Flag Award can be found at www.guildford. gov.uk/article/20891/Find-out-aboutour-Purple-Flag-Award

We can now cater for a much wider customer base and further increase our reach to manufacture point of sale boxes for the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and bottled spirits sectors.”

The Komori LS29 offers exceptional quality with guaranteed colour reproduction and colour consistency. It’s also extra efficient allowing for faster production time increasing output speed by 40%, and faster setup time reduced from 45 minutes to 15 minutes. The print machine is very environmentally friendly too being one of the greenest litho presses around and less polluting due to its alcohol-free offering unlike conventional presses.