Community

Brigg needs your vote as local high streets battle to be Britain’s best

Brigg has today been named as one of the country’s best high streets by being shortlisted in the annual Great British High Street competition, now, to be crowned champion, Brigg needs your votes.

This year’s competition saw a record 230 applicants and now, for the first time, the public has the chance to vote directly for their best-loved high street online. Between now and November you can cast your vote for free via thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk or on Facebook.

Please vote for Brigg EVERY DAY (you can vote once every day until close) until the competition closes on 13th November.  You can vote by clicking this link and checking the ‘Brigg’ button before submitting your email address.

If Brigg wins, not only will they get a share of prize pot worth £80,000, but they’ll win expert training and tailor-made tips from Google’s training taskforce – the Digital Garage on Tour – for one hundred of their shops, bars and restaurants.

High Streets Minister Marcus Jones said:

“We had a record amount of high-quality entries to this year’s competition – testament to the pride local people have and brilliant work being done to boost Britain’s high streets.

“The local high street is the life and soul of many towns, villages and cities across the country and these awards are a great opportunity to not only celebrate those that are the best of the best, but also to help others learn their valuable tips for success.

“If you cherish the hard work going on in Brigg then show your support and get voting.”

The Great British High Street Competition 2015 – sponsored by Boots, Costa, Post Office, Marks and Spencer and Tesco – is now in its second year and is one of a number of initiatives to help champion high streets as the cornerstones of the community.

These include a billion pound package of investment ranging from targeted business rate discounts, sensible planning changes and action that reins in over-zealous parking practices.

The first Great British High Street competition last year saw 135 communities battle it out to be crowned the nation’s best. Belper in Derbyshire emerged as the overall winner. Belper found that winning not only boosted town pride, but also had a tangible economic impact with retailers reporting increased footfall.

Malcolm Bailey, who led Brigg’s entry for the competition hopes that will happen for Brigg too.

“We’re proud of Brigg being at the centre of one of Britain’s best high streets and we hope this will be a real boon for the town.

“We’re going to be pulling out all the stops to make sure local people know about XXX’s shortlisting. Now we just need everyone to show their support and get voting.”

Alongside the public’s votes shortlisted towns will also be inspected by the Future High Streets Forum judging panel – made up of industry leaders from across retail, property and business

This year’s competition also sees special recognition prizes for towns that have become ‘rising stars’, or local people who have made an invaluable personal contribution to their local high streets being launched.

To go online to cast your vote, visit the Great British High Street website and follow @TheGBHighSt on Twitter.

Voting closes on November 13th.