During January 2014, I visited Plymouth in order to investigate the success of rebranding schemes implemented to increase the sustainability and economic success within the area. In this essay I will discuss the results collected on the fieldtrip and describe how they are able to show that the rebranding process has been successful.
In order to find out whether the number of people visiting the city centre of Plymouth has increased, I carried out the quantitative method of pedestrian counts at 2 different points – Drake Circus and Frankfort Gate. At 5 minute intervals, I counted the number of people who walked past. At around 12pm, between 150-165 pedestrians walked past. In comparison, at Frankfort Gate in the same amount of time between 50-60 people walked past our eye line. In my opinion, this shows success because the visitors are more attracted to the shopping centre of Drake Circus where there are a range of high street brands where as Frankfort Gate is home to more independent cafes and the local market. Due to the increase in popularity of Plymouth city centre, I carried out a perception analysis. This where I asked the local residents about the different ways Plymouth has rebranded. The most popular result was the development of Drake Circus and when asked about the different places/events they had visited, 2 out of the 3 people interviewed, Drake Circus was the most visited location. However, due to time constraints, I could only carry out the pedestrian counts and interviews at one time and in one location meaning that results may not be a full representation. Therefore, if I were to do this again, I would carry out the process at 3 different times of the day so that a variety of people where seen/spoken to. In order to discuss success in detail, I carried out some secondary research and discovered that in the year 2008-2009 there were 19 million visitors to Drake Circus and in the same year there was a £19.9 million pound intake from shoppers. In my eyes, this shows success because as a result Drake Circus has now become the most visited shopping centre in the South West. With a population of around 256, 000, this is indicating that people are willing to travel considerable distances outside of the city to reach the shopping centre. This is possible due to the improved access witnessed during my travels in and out of the city.
To assess the changes over time, I carried out some research based on the number of crime statistics in the Plymouth. In January 2011, overall there were 162 crimes reported according to www.police.uk. However, in the same month 3 years later and the same month of my visit the number of crimes had reduced down to 120. The highest reported crime in both months was anti-social behaviour. The reduce in crime levels shows success due to more jobs being available to the local population and therefore less people being out of work during the day.
In addition to the fieldwork and research carried out above, I also conducted a questionnaire about whether the residents or tourists thought the redevelopment in Plymouth had been successful. To reduce the number of subjective and opinionated response, I decided to carry the out the investigation in the layout below. This would make the data more easier to measure but would not rule out qualitative data collection.
Agreement Undecided Disagreement Additional Comments
Strong +2 Slight +1 O Slight -1 Strong -2

The most common trend from this data collection showed that most of the interviewees had a strong agreement that the redevelopment had brought services and facilities to the area that would benefit local people because they are now able to use their local city centre rather than travelling to the nearest major city of Exeter. Through the help of Google maps, I was able to determine that this can not only be classed as success but also that the flagship strategy of Drake Circus has been able to reduce the amount of economic leakage as people are not have to travel 43 miles to spend the money on Exeter’s shopping high street. This has also benefited the elderly who would not have been able to access a wide range of services before the redevelopment of the local area.
To complement the primary research carried out on the day, it was also important to carry out secondary research afterwards. Whilst there I took photos of Frankfort Gate and Drake Circus. Once back in the classroom, I was able to compare these to the before shots of the same areas – these were taken from Google images. What is clear to see for the area of Drake Circus is that before the construction, the area was abandoned and dilapidated. As a result, no jobs were available in these shops and supports my findings that crime statistics for anti social behaviour would have indeed been higher prior to Drake Circus being constructed.
Having considered all the data that had been collected through fieldwork and research, I am able to confidently say that the rebranding process in Plymouth city centre has been successful. This has meant that the quality of life for the local people has been improved because they now have access to a variety of goods and services which have also improved in standards. Also, due to the increased number of people visiting and spending their money in the area, stores are able to remain open and not be sent into administration which had happened previously.