District Council encourages residents to shop local and support small businesses

To encourage people to shop locally in the run up to Christmas, the District Council have produced a number of videos aimed at promoting local businesses in Newark, Ollerton, Edwinstowe and Southwell. Now more than ever, small independent businesses need our support, and these videos showcase some of the amazing shops residents can visit to tick everything off their Christmas list. From butchers and sweet shops, to bakers and gift shops, our district has what you’re looking for!

You can watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8dxkh_5KFE

Councillor Claire Penny, Portfolio Holder for Sustainable Economic Development at Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “Our district is full of amazing independent shops and businesses. It’s what makes our towns unique and this Christmas we can all boost our local economy by shopping local and helping them out. This is a vital time for businesses and any support we can offer them can make a huge difference.”

In Newark, all District Council owned car parks will be running free car parking at weekends until Sunday 29 December. The aim of this is to encourage more people to park for free and visit the town that’s right on their doorstep.

This year has seen a wide range of events too! Events play a key role in bringing people to town centres where they can also visit local shops.

In Newark, the District Council and the Town Council have supported a wide range of events in the town centre including The Plastic Ocean Show which saw a giant inflatable whale in the town centre, Newark-on-Sea, Tour of Britain, Book Benches, Small Business Showcase, Festival of Creativity and A Likely Story which projected an animation onto Newark Town Hall. This event delivered by Newark Creates, saw the biggest footfall figures in Newark town centre for an evening so far this year!

The National Civil War Centre’s Family Saturday will also be taking place this Saturday with the theme of A Very Green Christmas. Residents from Newark and Sherwood can attend for free and will be invited to take inspiration from Christmas traditions of the past and enjoy some eco-friendly Christmas activities, making recycled gift boxes and a Tudor-inspired Christmas wreath to hang in their home or on the front door.

Newark Town Council is planning several events in the run up to Christmas aimed at encouraging footfall in the Market Place. Despite the blustery weather this weekend, the Steampunk market will be taking place inside the Buttermarket along with the Christmas Tree Festival, which is running from 7 to 15 December, taking place in the mezzanine.

Elsewhere in the district, Newark and Sherwood District Council supported the Late Night Shopping and Market event in Southwell and the Christmas Lights Switch-on in Ollerton and Boughton.

It's not the only thing the District Council has supported businesses with this year.  The Economic Growth team at the District Council also provides a free service to grant finder, access to data such as footfall and carparking, workshops throughout the year, frequent Shop Local campaigns and discretionary rate relief on business premises.

The team also ran the Economic Growth Conference back in October this year at The Renaissance at Kelham Hall with the conference theme of ‘Technology, skills and the future of business in Newark and Sherwood’. More than 80 delegates who attended the conference heard from speakers giving presentations on upcoming skills development opportunities and the latest technologies being used by local companies.

Feedback from the conference showed that almost 95% of attendees thought the conference was either excellent or good whilst 88.89% said that they would recommend the conference to other businesses.

Councillor Claire Penny, continues: “We’re always here to support businesses and if any business or retailer wants to chat to us about their business and how we can support them, please do get in touch with us via email on economic.growth@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk.”