By Robin Hall, of Kymin Financial Services, Newport

This year has seen the continued rise of the city of Newport and surrounding area.

Newport has seen massive investment over the past few years with Friars Walk, the University of Wales city campus and the Admiral building, with further investment happening at the Celtic Manor Resort with the Wales International Convention Centre due to open in 2019.

Two major events held at The Celtic Manor Resort in recent years, the Ryder Cup in 2010 and NATO summit in 2014 have certainly helped to put Newport on the map.

Friars Walk, which opened in November 2015, has made a huge difference to the retail and leisure experience in the city centre.

At long last we have the likes of Debenhams, Jack & Jones, Next, H&M and M&S Foodhall and the restaurant quarter includes Le Bistrot Pierre, Prezzo, TGI Fridays and Drago Lounge to name but a few.

To add to this there is an eight-screen cinema and bowling alley.

All of this links nicely with the Newport Centre and Riverfront and across the river Rodney Parade which is home to Newport Rugby Club, Newport Gwent Dragons and Newport County.

This large investment has already had a knock-on effect with further retail units being taken in the nearby Kingsway Centre with Pep & Co, Shoezone and That’s Entertainment opening over the last six months or so.

Inevitably, some of the new shops in this development have moved from the traditional shopping area of Commercial Street and High Street and a big push now needs to be made to attract shops back to these areas.

Obviously with BHS collapsing back in the summer this has left another big store empty on Commercial Street.

The Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places Programme has meant that £15m has been spent refurbishing some key properties in the city centre including the former Kings Hotel at the top of High Street and the landmark National Buildings in lower Commercial Street.

It has also part-funded the former Yates building into a Premier Inn, but despite this being due to open on June 13 this year it is yet to be finished. Let’s hope it opens early in the new year, as now promised by the hotel chain.

These knock-on effects of Friars Walk will hopefully encourage even more retailers back into the city centre but even more encouraging is the revaluation of business rates from next April which should see the reduction in the rateable value of many premises within the city.

We mustn’t forget Newport Market and the arcades off High Street. It is encouraging to see new traders such as award-winning fish mongers Vin Sullivan trying out Newport Market recently and long may this continue.

It would be great to see even more independent traders opening up in this area.

If it can be proved that more buses travelling down High Street will encourage more footfall, then this needs to be looked at in further detail. However, all of the bus companies in Newport are private limited companies and cannot be expected to run routes which are not well patronised or run at a loss.

Newport has seen a resurgence in locally-owned restaurants and bars, we have Mojo The FoodBar in Clarence Place, The Ridgeway Bar and Kitchen, Slipping Jimmy’s in High Street.

Mojo’s owners have recently taken over The Riverside Tavern, to be renamed Riverside Sports Bar and Kitchen in Clarence Place and are due to open a further restaurant locally to be called Hide and Sea.

The east side of the riverbank is also seeing great investment in new apartments and houses and let’s hope that this encourages further businesses such as Hi Coffee at Millennium Plaza just across the river from Friars Walk to open. This area is ideally placed with the city centre, the City Campus and Rodney Parade situated only a few minutes’ walk away.

Parc Pantry has just opened its third offering - Parc Central in High Street - and Tiny Rebel Brewery is going from strength to strength after winning UK Brewer of the Year in September.

Plans are on track with its new brewery in Rogerstone, which will also incorporate a bar and beer garden and which will complement its pub, now known at Tiny Rebel Newport, in High Street.

So, at long last we have a thriving food and drink industry with the new starters being a great addition to established pubs such as The Lamb, The Potters, Le Pub, The Pen and Wig and The Queens.

Newport Now, the company behind the Business Improvement District, has been making great strides to get a coherent plan for the city centre.

This year’s Christmas lights switch on was a great success. It was amazing to see so many people of all ages with everyone enjoying themselves, spending money and there seemed to be real vibe and good atmosphere all around. It was certainly the best organised Christmas lights switch on Newport has had for many years.

All of this development has helped Newport to be in the top 100 shopping destinations in the UK with the obvious benefits it is bringing.

Kymin too seems to benefiting from this upturn, we are experiencing an extremely busy end to the year and have taken on two new members of staff in 2016, with further recruitment planned for 2017.

Outside the city centre the massive development at Llanwern continues with 4,000 new homes proposed and Amazon have taken a unit at the Celtic Business Park development which will create 50 new jobs directly.

Newport has a lot to shout about and I am looking forward to 2017 with renewed confidence not only for the business I work for, but for city as a whole.

As always we all have a part to play in the continued regeneration and rise in the fortunes of our city.

All businesses large and small, national companies and independent traders, Newport City Council, Newport Now, the Welsh Government and all the residents of Newport can all have their part to play.

Further developments at the Celtic Manor, the old Sainsbury’s site and the proposed next phase of the Station Quarter next to Admiral building means that there is no let-up in inward investment.

We shouldn’t try and compete with Cardiff and Bristol but now we have the beginnings of a city we can all be proud of, so let’s all get involved to make sure this continues.