Supporting local businesses is more important than ever as 麻豆免费版 and Bute starts to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
麻豆免费版 and Bute Council is encouraging people to support towns and high streets by shopping local. To help local businesses, the council is delivering a number of initiatives designed to enhance both the online and physical presence of town centre businesses. They include:
- Bespoke 鈥榮hop local鈥 marketing messaging and marketing materials
- Shopfront Improvement Grants
- Free Google My Business training to increase online presence
- Free Google accredited photography for local businesses to help showcase all that 麻豆免费版 and Bute鈥檚 towns have to offer
The projects have been funded by the Scottish Government, through the Town Centre Fund and from Scotland鈥檚 Towns Partnership and are designed to support town centres to be vibrant, accessible and enterprising places to live, work and visit.
Councillor Alastair Redman, Policy Lead for Business, Regeneration and Commercial Development:
鈥淭he easing of lockdown restrictions is welcome news as many of our shops and local businesses reopen.
After a challenging year, we need to give them as much support as possible to recover from the impact of the pandemic. They provide vital employment to our communities and are incredibly important for the local economy.
Many businesses helped with the lockdown response and now is the time to show appreciation by helping them now by shopping local. 鈥
The council has awarded over 拢150,000 to local business owners under the Town Centre Shopfront Improvement Grant. Designed to help support investment with shopfronts and help make town centres more attractive places to live and visit, grants have been awarded to seventy five businesses. The grant has also supported work opportunities for local tradespeople.
Steve Losh, Owner of The Journey in Helensburgh is one of the recipients of the Shopfront Improvement Grant:
鈥淲e believe the result of the project has helped revitalise the face of what is, an 鈥渋conic鈥 building, at the heart of the Helensburgh community. After many years of being empty, it now feels energetic and vibrant once again.
The new signs above the windows works with the original architecture and hides some of the buildings sun/weathering and mounting damage from previous signage.
The window signage design and colour scheme blends into the buildings colour scheme and fits the buildings classier persona. It is also non-destructive and can be easily replaced to maintain quality and finish over years of use.鈥
In recognition of the economic and environmental importance of shopping locally, the council undertook a community engagement exercise in eight towns, resulting in the commissioning of locally bespoke messaging. The marketing materials include banners, posters and images to use across social media. They are available for free download from the council website.
Read more about supporting our town centres.