Campaign highlights the character of high streets
A NEW drive to promote 15 of Bristol’s high streets has been launched in a bid to get people to return to their local stores and businesses.
The project, called ‘Where’s it to?,’ will showcase each one of the 15 local high streets every week in a campaign to encourage Bristolians to shop, eat and drink local.
The campaign is one of the last in Britain to be funded with EU money, from the European Regional Development Fund, and yesterday’s launch saw Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees visit East Street in Bedminster to check out what’s there.
The 15 high streets will be profiled and promoted with videos and publicity drives highlighting many of the traders on each street, from businesses run by the generations of the same family, to new start-ups getting going during the pandemic.
“Where’s it to? was selected as the name of the campaign to reflect our city’s language and in collaboration with a huge range of traders from across the 15 high streets,” said project leader Sarah Morrison.
“It’s our way of demonstrating where something is to a visitor, and perfectly reflects this guide to hidden gems on our high streets,” she added.
The project has been created by Bristol City Council and funded through the Reopening High Streets Safely Fund, which is part of activities delivered with £831,570 of funding from the European Regional Development Fund.
The 15 high streets or local shopping areas chosen for the project are: The Old City, Arnside Road in Southmead, East Street, Church Road in St George, Clifton Village, Stockwood, Fishponds, Filton Avenue in Horfield, Gloucester Road, Mina Road in St Werburghs, Two Mile Hill, Shirehampton, Stapleton
Road in Easton, Brislington Hill, and Westbury-on-Trym.
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees said each one of those local shopping areas or high streets was unique.
“This campaign celebrates the
unique character of each Bristol high street, while recognising the contribution to the city as a whole,” he said.
“After a challenging year, we want to promote our shopkeepers, restaurateurs and businesses, as they have been critical to morale during the pandemic. Many of us have been shopping more on our local high streets and we really want to encourage more of this as we begin to recover from the pandemic.”