Let’s Celebrate Towns – run by Visa and supported by the British Retail Consortium – is a nationwide showcase, celebrating the hundreds of Towns across the UK that are helping businesses and communities to thrive.
People up and down the country are talking about Towns, where the majority of us live, work and raise our families. Against a challenging backdrop, there is a lot of positive momentum behind creating the right conditions for Towns to thrive, and helping the people and businesses that reside in them to flourish. Policymakers are turning their attention to Towns, businesses are investing in them, and government is exploring new ways to unlock their long-term future success - whether through new homes, digital infrastructure, or rejuvenating high streets.
There’s a £15,000 grant for each winner to put toward a community project or initative
Enter this year’s competition
This year's competition
Building on the success from the competition run in early 2023, in 2024 ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ will continue to highlight what makes our Towns unique. We will be shining the spotlight on leading examples of how Towns are overcoming challenges and delivering excellence in key areas to support thriving local economies.
By entering, Towns across the UK have the chance of attending a national awards ceremony and being one of eight Towns recognised across one of the four categories: business environment, people and skills, sustainability, and infrastructure.
Winning Towns will receive:
Direct investment in your Town
£15,000 for your Town to put toward a community project or initiative.
Provision of skills and education
Help for winning Towns to upskill SMEs to enable them to thrive in a changing business
environment.
Connect small businesses to experts to get advice and support.
We’re delighted to announce the following towns spotlighted for their success as part of Let’s Celebrate Towns this year:
Business Environment
- Weston-Super-Mare
- Armagh
People and Skills
- Boscombe
- Northwich
Infrastructure
- Shrewsbury
- Waltham Cross
Sustainability
- Altrincham
- Sherborne
The four categories
This year’s national showcase will focus on key areas that are crucial to the current and future success of Towns. We want to hear the best examples from up and down the country, exploring Town initiatives and programmes that are overcoming challenges to promote and support thriving local economies.
CATEGORY:
Business Environment
Towns are thriving hubs for businesses big and small. We want to know what your Town is doing to create vibrant business networks, embrace entrepreneurial spirit and utilise digitalisation to help businesses scale and grow successfully.
Enter now
Submit your entry and put forward your strongest case studies and examples of Town Vitality local to your area.
Let’s Celebrate Towns 2023
In 2023, thousands of pounds were invested in community projects across eight different Towns across the UK. From adventure days in Banbridge to a cultural festival in Pontypridd, the Bromsgrove food scene to historical plaques in Annan, Let’s Celebrate Towns has given local leaders the opportunity to spotlight and support what makes their Town great – and you could do the same!
Spotlighting Kilmarnock
After facing a challenging three years, local authorities and business associations came together in Kilmarnock to lead a transformation of high-street shopping, embracing digital solutions to help local retailers and customers face down the Covid-19 pandemic and economic challenges.
By investing in “ShopAppy”, these authorities and associations brought 123 local businesses together with over 10,000 customers – for many of these businesses, an online presence would have been simply unimaginable. Local authorities and associations went one step further, developing an “EA Gift Card” for communities across the area – 240 local businesses are now registered to accept the Gift Card.
Having been spotlighted as part of ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ in 2023, Kilmarnock committed to bolstering their digital platform, in order to increase footfall on the high street and bringing people and businesses together.
“For Kilmarnock, ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ has boosted our efforts, and helped us highlight all that is positive about our local area, including the sterling efforts of our business associations. We’ve reaped the benefits of pooling the energy, enthusiasm, skills and resources shared with our partners in Kilmarnock Business Association, Cumnock Business Association and our own Community Led Regeneration Team.
Together we’ve created a vibrant and coherent ‘shop local’ message tied in with our practical help to encourage local online shopping too. We’ll be spending our prize money to create an app which will help drive footfall in our Town and village centres, linking projects, businesses and people to foster a positive shop local culture.”
Claire Kavanagh, East Ayrshire Council
Spotlighting Pontypridd
Pontypridd faced significant challenges due to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and Storm Dennis in 2020. However, by bringing together the District Council, the Your Pontypridd Business Improvement District (BID) and the Town Council Pontypridd has shown resilience and the hallmarks of collaboration.
In 2021, the Council supported Your Pontypridd BID to secure funding to deliver a “Meanwhile Space”. This delivered test trading opportunities on the high street and was a huge success – one business subsequently leased a property previously decimated by Storm Dennis, bringing it back into use. The business has since collaborated with neighbouring businesses in the creation of the “Mill Street Quarter”, a new group of businesses working together to make Pontypridd a vibrant and welcoming place.
Having been spotlighted as the Wales Champion Town, as part of ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ in 2023, Pontypridd committed to connect even more residents, especially families, with the Town’s businesses and renewed high street.
“We are delighted that our local Town has been recognised as among the best in Britain at the UK-wide ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns Awards’, allowing us to showcase the region to the wider community on a nationwide platform. Pontypridd Town centre has been the focal point of the community for centuries, having been home of both our National Anthem and National Lido in Ynysangharad War Memorial Park.
The awards recognise not only the significant financial investment in Pontypridd but the positive and collaborative partnerships that exist between stakeholders, who together have and continue to deliver transformational change and a platform for economic growth.
The prize money has already been put to good use with a Funtastic Fridays programme of free to access family activities delivered in Pontypridd throughout the summer of 2023, and we look forward to building on this again in 2024.”
Darren Notley, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council