By Community Correspondent: Matthew Born

The Purple Flag award has become the new “gold standard” that recognises fantastic entertainment and hospitality areas at night time. Any place that achieves that standard offers a great, positive experience with its nightlife. Essentially it is an indicator of where to go for a good night out. Kingston has become one of the first town’s in the country to be awarded Purple Flag status, an award given to prestigious places like Leicester Square and Covent Garden. Kingston is now walking in the highest of circles.

Kingston and its residents have a right to be proud of this achievement, which has come through a combination of hard work and some innovative new initiatives from Kingston Council. Most specifically, the introduction of the marshalled private hire pick-up points and the management of late night taxis and private hire vehicles, which has helped late night revellers get home safely and help contribute to the 45% crime reduction since 2000 – the real reason why this is so impressive.

Kingston has long been a centre for the boozy night out, and this caused crime rates – especially violence and muggings – to be relatively high compared to the rest of the country. However, the council and the Met has worked tirelessly to help reduce the crime rates and make Kingston town centre a better place at night and the Purple Flag is a great reward for those hours of hard work put in to successfully turning Kingston into the recognised nightlife hub it is today.

Councillor Derek Osborne, Leader of Kingston Council, praised the Safer Kingston Partnership’s role in Kingston achieving Purple Flag status, saying: “The Safer Kingston Partnership has worked extremely hard to improve visitors’ experience of Kingston after dark. For years the town has had a thriving night time economy, but one principally targeted at visitors under 30 years of age. The work we have done with our partner local organisations in recent years has reduced crime in the town centre by 45% and broadened the age-mix who are attracted to Kingston in the evenings, with new restaurants and the development of the Rose Theatre.”

Kingston is now entitled to fly the Purple Flag for two years until the 21st January 2012, having started approximately 3 weeks ago. It is a just reward for those who have worked so hard in making Kingston safer, and will bring in visitors and contribute to the local economy, therefore helping Kingston to continually improve and work for an even safer Kingston.