Sip’Swich 2026 hailed a success for town centre bars

Seven prize winners, around a hundred thousand pounds worth of revenue generated for Ipswich pubs and bars and a legacy of greater awareness and footfall are just some of the outcomes from the recent drinks trail devised and run by Ipswich Central. 

Sip’Swich 2026 was launched at the end of March this year.  Six themed trails invited people to visit up to 30 pubs and bars over the course of six weeks collecting stamps along the way to be in with a chance of winning valuable prizes.  

After Sip’Swich 2026 ended earlier this month, organisers surveyed the owners and managers of the 30 bars that took part to gauge whether they had benefited from the trails. The responses were an overwhelming yes with three quarters saying they had seen an increase in taking and awareness of their venue. One bar manager commented: “We had very busy nights where everyone was scanning or getting stamps – proving that this works. We undeniably had better takings due to Sip’swich.”   

Ipswich Central team members have analysed the results of the survey and the data on stamp collection and concluded that the stamps in the digital app and on the paper entries for the competition represent around £50,000 of drinks. However, this doesn’t include incidental expenditure on second drinks, bar snacks, full meals or repeat visits so the actual figure is likely to be in the region of £100k when those are taken into account. 

The Ipswich Central team ran a comprehensive marketing campaign behind Sip’Swich to ensure that it reached a new audience. Social media posts were, in part, targeted at people living outside the immediate boundaries of the town to bring in those who wouldn’t normally choose Ipswich to spend their leisure time. A bespoke website was created giving a comprehensive listing of all the pubs taking part, every bar was offered a stack of Sip’Swich beer mats and T-shirts and events like a launch party and spin the wheel game were staged to build awareness.  

Ipswich Central CEO Lee Walker told us: “Our social media posts were viewed almost 440,000 times so a lot more people are aware of the wonderful range of pubs and bars on offer in Ipswich and will hopefully continue to visit over the coming months.   

“The new website was used by over 9000 individuals and, as we travelled round the bars dropping off trail cards, beer mats and other materials, bar owners shared anecdotes about how they were seeing lots of new faces and how people had told them they would return in the future. I’m very proud of what Sip’Swich has achieved and hope we will be able to repeat it next year.” 

Thanks to the generosity of Ipswich Town Football Club and Ipswich Regent, seven lucky people have just found out that they have won prizes including: 

• A bar tab for £150 at a bar of their choice (five prizes)
• A VIP hospitality package for a home match at ITFC
• The ultimate prize – £250 bar tab and a box for four people to see the upcoming 9 – 5 musical at Ipswich Regent.

The Sip’Swich website is still live so people can continue to use it to plan a leisurely visit to the town.