Volunteers collect 60 bags of rubbish from city centre in huge spring clean

Coventry businesses have got together to give the city a massive spring clean ahead of the influx of visitors this spring and summer. In total, more than 50 volunteers gathered more than 60 bags of litter on Monday, May 13.

The initiative was led by McDonald’s Coventry in conjunction with Coventry Business Improvement District (BID). The group included McDonald’s employees, McDonald’s suppliers and partners, Coventry BID’s team and representatives from a range of other businesses based within the ring road.

It received support from the Coventry City Council’s Streetpride team who provided equipment for volunteers to pick up litter and spruce up the city’s streets. The volunteers met on the morning at the McDonald’s Cross Cheaping restaurant, before splitting off into groups to clean up different areas, including The Burges, Cathedral Quarter, Broadgate, Spon Street and the Belgrade.

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Coventry city centre will be hosting a range of events throughout the spring and summer, starting with MotoFest in June. John Kiely MBE, who runs seven successful McDonald’s stores including two in the city centre, is committed to ensuring his team contributes positively to the city.

Staff at his McDonald’s restaurants carry out daily litter picks and he has partnered with Coventry BID to deliver the city centre-wide spring clean.

John said: “We would like to thank everyone who came out on the morning to support the spring clean. It’s important to be proud of where you live and work, and it's incumbent on all of us based in the city centre – and visitors - to keep it clean by ensuring all litter is put into a bin so that we can create a better environment.

“We have worked in partnership with Coventry City Council on projects in the past and we are pleased to be working with the BID again on this initiative. It was a great morning and we look forward to working with the BID to deliver further projects in the future.”

Coventry BID has been operating in the city centre for more than 20 years and was voted in by levy-paying businesses for its fifth five-year term last year. The BID works with its levy payers to make the city centre a great place to visit and work.

Coventry BID manager Joanne Glover added: “It was fantastic to see so many people joining us on the morning for the big spring clean and it proves that businesses based here have a real pride in their city centre. We have a great community in the city and a collection of businesses that are committed to making it a clean, welcoming and vibrant place to visit.

“Working in partnership with McDonald’s and our levy payers, we will be looking to deliver more clean-up events throughout the year and are always on the look-out for more volunteers to support the drive to keep our streets tidy.”

Businesses taking part on the day included McDonald’s, Primark, M&S, The Yard, Lower Precinct, 17 A Hairdressers, Coventry Building Society, Piece of Cake Marketing, Tesco, Coventry Sky Dome, Coventry BID and Blue Badge Guide. Also taking part were Guenther Bakeries and Martin Brower Ltd (McDonald’s suppliers based in Coventry), Positive Youth Foundation and Coventry Police (CIRV).