In October, we asked people who had just completed a walk to fill in a survey so that we could better gage how effective our walks were and how they could be improved. Eighty people sent in their forms, which gave us a fairly good sample to work with. We are quite pleased with the results, and now know how to improve the walks.

What we’ve learned from reading the surveys is that the walks successfully promote Holborn as a place to work, live, study and visit. 61% of respondents said that the walks very successfully promoted Holborn, 35% said that they quite successfully promoted and only 4% said that the walks did not promote Holborn very much. Nobody said that the walks did not promote Holborn at all. This information, along with the fact that 55% of walks participants did not work or live in the area suggests that walks are drawing people to the area, and encouraging them to discover Holborn as it was in the past and as it is today- its shops, its streets its businesses.

Overall, 72% rated the walks as excellent, 25% rated them as good and only 3% as satisfactory. 100% of respondents said that they would recommend the walks to others, and also added that they had already done so. 91% described our guide, Aly, as very welcoming. This is positive information for us, and explains why almost half of the respondents participated in walks frequently (almost 10% had been on over 20 walks!). Clearly, our walks are a success!

One area we plan on working on in the coming months is the sound quality of the walks. Only 50% of respondents said that they heard everything, and although 40% reported they heard most of it, this is certainly an area we would like to work on. Larger groups, traffic and general street noise make audibility difficult, but we are exploring technologies to ensure that everyone gets the most out of their guided walks!

On December 15th, Aly will be going to the National Housing Federation on Proctor St. to guide 30 of their staff members on a History of Holborn walk as part of the Federation’s ‘Lunch and Learn’ series. Bespoke walks are available for businesses who want to organize a group activity, get to know the area they work in or learn while being fun and active. Contact us to book your walk.

If you would like to find out more about our walks, please visit the walks section of our website. If you have been on a walk and would like to give your feedback, please e-mail us. We always welcome your input.

 

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