Residents and visitors to Caerphilly county borough are being encouraged to 'Choose the High Street' as Caerphilly County Borough Council's Town Centre Management team launches a brand new campaign to raise awareness of the uniqueness of what is on offer in each of its town centres.
The initiative will focus on raising awareness of the importance of consumer choice, and work to encourage people to use their local high street more often.
While residents and visitors continue to display support for their local town centres, with reports revealing consistent footfall figures over the summer months in town centres across the county borough during the last two years, this campaign aims to build upon this success, and demonstrate to residents and visitors alike that each town centre has a unique reason for paying it a visit.
During summer 2013 (beginning of May through until end of September), Blackwood in particular saw a marked increase in the number of visitors to the town centre, from 715,229 in summer 2012 to 762,570 in summer 2013.
Cllr Ken James, Cabinet Member for Regeneration said, "We remain committed to keeping our local economies thriving, and this new campaign aims to actively encourage all residents and indeed visitors to our county borough to utilise our unique town centre. I am pleased to see, through the consistent footfall figures, that residents continue to share the council's enthusiasm in supporting local traders and organisations, and the 'Choose the High Street' campaign aims to go one step further to demonstrate to residents and visitors that there are really unique reasons why they should choose to shop in our county borough's town centres".
The Choose the High Street campaign will also actively encourage new businesses to open in the town centres.
Simon and Trish Fowler, owners of Must Have Music and Impact, have recently relocated their business from The Market Place onto Blackwood High Street.
Simon explains, "He at Must Have Music we are proud to be part of the Choose the High Street campaign. We have been working with Caerphilly council for the past few years, and have found that being part of their previous campaigns was very successful -- talking to the general public and relating to them how important it is to shop locally".
"Having been established since May 2003, visitors to Must Have Music can soak up the friendly atmosphere, where we will always offer our customers genuine advice. It is our natural interest to make all of our customers welcome and provide them with a fantastic time while visiting us instore", he added.
Caerphilly County Borough Council also offers an online resource for budding entrepreneurs and traders -- the Retail Property Index -- which is an in-depth database for all vacant business premises in Bargoed, Blackwood, Caerphilly, Risca and Ystrad Mynach town centres. The online resource includes pictures of each property, along with listings of whether the property is available for lease or sale and the details of the property agent.
Cllr Ken James continued, "Anyone with aspirations of starting up a business here in Caerphilly county borough should look no further than this excellent online resource. The Retail Property Index is a great way to check out what premises are available and find the perfect location in a quick, convenient way".
The Retail Property Index can be found at www.caerphillybusiness.info and the site also includes a handy search function that allows users to search for properties by location, town, lease or sale.
For further information on the 'Choose the High Street' campaign call the council's Town Centre Management team on 01443 866 213.
