New grant is a boost for Lewisham's high streets

Lewisham is a great borough for entrepreneurs. A huge 70% of our retail businesses are independent. If you walk through any of our town centres you will see a fantastic mix of shops, bars, restaurants, salons and more offering residents a diverse range of products and services. But, let’s be honest, the pandemic has been tough on them.

Since March 2020 we have offered a robust package of financial and practical support to not only help our businesses weather the storm but also to flourish as we start to rebuild our local economy post-Covid. These businesses will be pivotal to Lewisham’s growth and in creating employment opportunities for local people so it’s important that we do what we can to help.

Last year we unveiled the findings from our first-of-its-kind census of our high streets. We wanted to understand and address the unique challenges that local retailers face as they emerge from the pandemic. One of the key findings was that our independent businesses (two thirds of which are Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic-owned) rely mainly on in-person sales for their revenue. Yet they felt footfall levels were still lower than they were pre-pandemic.

We want to get people back into our town centres to Shop Safe Shop Local and support our fantastic businesses but we needed to be more creative in our approach. So in November we launched the Town Centre Small Grant, with a £49k investment through the Welcome Back Fund, offering payments of up to £2,499 for projects that would boost footfall on our high streets.

We encouraged applications from voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations, registered charities, arts organisations, business networks, education providers and more, and have been delighted with the fantastic response we’ve received!

We’re funding over 20 projects which are taking place right across the borough up until the end of March. They include everything from marketing support to markets; from arts festivals to poetry trails; from workshops to exhibitions; and from pop-up gym classes to mural paintings. There is something for everyone, all across Lewisham.

These are all brilliantly creative projects that will complement our London Borough of Culture programme and most importantly will bring some excitement and buzz to our town centres, which will be a huge benefit our local businesses. I’ve highlighted some of the upcoming projects below and would urge you to pop down to your high street and join in the fun.