“Let’s Celebrate Towns 2024”: 8 towns celebrated as part of nationwide showcase highlighting UK businesses and communities

Visa, a world leader in digital payments, alongside the British Retail Consortium (BRC), have recognised 8 towns at this year’s edition of the ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ awards - a nationwide showcase designed to highlight the hundreds of towns across the country helping local businesses and communities to thrive.

Congratulations to Boscombe, Northwich, Weston-super-Mare, Armagh, Shrewsbury, Waltham Cross, Altrincham, and Sherborne.

This initiative builds on the success of 2023, which saw winning towns invest in a range of exciting community projects – from historical tourism in Annan, to cultural events in Pontypridd – and has provided opportunities to highlight what makes our towns unique, encouraging adoption of best practice business-led growth across the nation.

Let’s Celebrate Towns this year was no different – these eight towns have all been recognised for their contribution to driving growth in their local economy and community and were judged across four key categories identified by Visa’s ‘Towns Vitality Roadmap’. The showcase categories were Business Environment, People & Skills, Infrastructure, and Sustainability.

The towns will now receive £15,000 of direct investment into a local community project or initiative and receive a dedicated programme of support for local businesses. By investing in these communities, we aim to help stimulate economic development, create job opportunities, and foster a thriving environment for small businesses to flourish.

Mandy Lamb, Managing Director UK & Ireland, Visa, commented: "At Visa, we're committed to uplifting economies so that everyone in the local communities they serve can benefit. We're thrilled to run this initiative for the second time, showcasing not only what makes our towns unique but also demonstrate how towns can adapt to new challenges and opportunities by learning and adopting these best practice examples across the nation. This initiative places towns at the forefront of our efforts and supports Visa’s aim of nurturing growth and prosperity at a local level."

Helen Dickinson, CEO, British Retail Consortium, commented: “I am delighted to continue this partnership with Visa to celebrate the diversity of our towns and what makes them great places to live and work. Following its success in 2023, and the valuable insights gained from different towns across the country, it is exciting to hear more examples of how areas are helping to support high streets and communities, so that best practice can be spread more widely across the country.”

Visa’s Let’s Celebrate Towns initiative has returned for its second year to celebrate and recognise the contributions of local communities and economies across Britain, following on from the success of last year, as well as Visa’s Great British High Street Awards programme and commitment to digitally enable eight million small businesses across Europe.

For further information - http://www.visa.co.uk/campaign/talk-of-the-town/lets-celebrate-towns.html