Brighten the high street’s finances
With local government budgets under increasing constraint, many councils withdrew funding for their 2012 Christmas lights in a bid to cut costs. But festive illuminations can be important for drawing trade onto the high street and customers into the shops.
The Federation for Small Businesses (FSB) launched a campaign in December to ‘save our Christmas lights’, in an effort to reverse the trend of decline along Britain’s high streets and ensure that businesses benefited from the lucrative Christmas period.
The FSB celebrated the efforts of small businesses in:
- Monton, Manchester – who planned ahead by holding a summer fair to fund their Christmas lights
- Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire – who together raised £1,000 to pay for lights after their council funding was removed
The ‘Save our Christmas’ campaign called on other small firms to post photos of their business dressed for the festive period on social media sites.
How did your high street fare this Christmas? Did your local council withdraw its funding? Be inspired by the businesses of Monton and Tewkesbury and plan ahead to avoid being left in the dark during Christmas 2013.