BELFAST has joined a host of towns and cities across the UK in entering the Great British High Street Awards 2018.
The city will be representing Northern Ireland in this year’s awards, having entered Donegall Place as a ‘Rising Star’ high street.
Belfast is working towards a series of long-term environmental goals, aiming to create a ‘zero to landfill’ city centre. The aim is to encourage all local businesses to sign up to the programme and inspire the city to become a greener, more environmentally-friendly place to live and work.
The entry from Belfast follows recent research commissioned by Visa, sponsor of the Great British High Streets Awards, which reveals that, despite negative economic forecasts and high-profile store closures, there is still a positive attitude towards high streets across the UK.
The research found that fewer than one in five independent retailers feel pessimistic about the future of the high street and nine in ten (90.8 per cent) Northern Irish shoppers claim that they would miss their local high streets if they no longer existed.
High streets minister Jake Berry said: “The Great British High Street Awards this year is celebrating the creativity of the many businesses in the UK, which are providing the shops and services so vital to our economy.
“The previous Awards were hugely successful, proving the public really cares about the centres of their cities, towns and villages."
With entries closing on August 22 there is still time for other Northern Ireland towns and cities to enter their high street into the ‘Champion’ or ‘Rising Star’ categories in this year’s awards.
For more information about the Great British High Street Awards and to enter, visit: http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk.
