COMMENT: What does success look like?

Anyone who has attended a meeting or seminar over the last couple of years will no doubt have heard the following phrase: “We have to decide what success looks like.”  I’m not sure when this particular gem entered circulation, but I certainly heard it a couple of times last week at my meeting with key stakeholders in Oldham. 

The gathering was called to try and bring some kind of overall thinking to how we progress solutions to Oldham’s highly publicised recent difficulties.  I have to say that unlike other phrases which cruelly end up being added to the “Bullshit Bingo” game, this particular phrase actually has some real validity.

Everyone who attended the Oldham meeting could be very despondent indeed if “success” had to mean creating a café culture to rival Milan or Paris.  There is the other side to the argument, which goes: “We have succeeded if we make the streets safe and local people believe it”.  We will also have succeeded if all factions start to truly work together – rather than pointing the finger of blame to score political brownie points. The Diageo sponsored, Community Engagement project Noctis produced last year proved this beyond doubt for me.

I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Oldham over recent months and can say honestly that, much like Nottingham a few years ago, it is seems to have been cruelly misrepresented by a sensationalist media.  Not that Oldham is perfect. Like many of the satellite towns around Manchester, Oldham loses out a great deal of upmarket custom for those heading out for the big night out. 

That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a good deal of potential, given the right strategy, to offer a decent night out.  Often it is these simple, but crucial building blocks which need to be put into place to make a location work.  There needs to be an active and positive dialogue between all key parties. There also needs to be some thought put into having a decent public transport infrastructure.  Added to this, civic and other leaders need to start being positive, but realistic about their location.  All of the above can be activated at local level without much of a fanfare.

There is a final piece in the jigsaw however which needs some legislative help.  We need some sensible debate about how large off-trade outlets are skewing the whole market for alcohol in this country.  Like many others I watch with interest to see how Oldham Council is making initial strides in this area to try and create a more level playing field.

If this particular thorny issue is tackled, it will undoubtedly look and feel like success for our industry.