UK towns are being invited to compete for £20,000 grants to support local businesses and community projects, against a backdrop of declining high street footfall.
The 2026 Let’s Celebrate Towns competition, run by Visa and Nationwide and supported by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), opened on 17 August. Towns can enter across five categories, including High Street Revival and Backing Local Business.
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The competition comes at a challenging time for town-centre retailers. BRC-Sensormatic data showed high street footfall fell 3.8% year on year in July, compared with a 1.4% decline at shopping centres. Retail parks bucked the trend, recording 1.2% growth.
Overall UK retail footfall fell 2.1% during the month, with six of the first seven months of 2026 recording lower footfall than the corresponding months a year earlier.
£20,000 grants target local projects
Towns can enter Let’s Celebrate Towns across five categories: High Street Revival, Backing Local Business, Protecting Valued Places, Connected Places and Community Pride.
One winner in each category will receive £20,000 to support a community-led project or new initiative.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said retailers play a central role in the economic and social life of town centres.
“Retailers sit at the heart of every town and high street, providing jobs, investment and a sense of community,” Dickinson said.
Eligible organisations representing UK towns can submit entries, including local authorities, town councils and other relevant organisations. Communities can also encourage local MPs, councillors and Business Improvement Districts to put forward initiatives.
Towns must have populations of between 5,000 and 225,000, based on Office for National Statistics built-up area population data. Only one entry per town is permitted in each category.
Retail parks buck wider footfall decline
The competition comes as high streets continue to underperform other major physical retail destinations for footfall.
Although July’s 3.8% year-on-year decline in high street footfall was an improvement on the 6.2% drop recorded in June, high streets remained the weakest-performing location type tracked by BRC-Sensormatic.
The figures also show a divergence between retail destinations. While high streets and shopping centres recorded declining footfall in July, retail parks returned to growth with a 1.2% increase.
The BRC said exceptionally hot and historically dry weather was likely to have been a significant factor, discouraging shopping trips and particularly affecting high streets.
There were also significant regional differences. England recorded a 3% year-on-year decline in footfall, with London down 5.3%. Scotland recorded 2.7% growth, while Northern Ireland increased 2.6% and Wales was flat.
The latest figures continue a difficult run for physical retail traffic, with only one of the first seven months of 2026 recording higher overall footfall than the corresponding month of 2025.
The competition also comes alongside wider efforts to support town and community regeneration. The Government’s Pride in Place Programme involves up to £5.8bn of investment across nearly 300 communities.
Competition enters fourth year
Let’s Celebrate Towns was launched in 2023 and has recognised towns across the UK for projects aimed at strengthening local economies and communities.
The 2025 winners were Ramsgate, Gosport, Morecambe, Swanley, Malton and Norton, and Wallsend. Each received £20,000 towards a new or ongoing community project.
Last year’s categories covered High Street Transformation, Small Business Support, Future Skills, Connectivity, Circularity and Powering Change, with Wallsend taking the High Street Transformation award.
For 2026, the categories have been reshaped to cover a broader range of initiatives involving high street revival, independent businesses, local places, connectivity and community activity.
The broader focus reflects the changing role of high streets, where retail increasingly operates alongside other local businesses, services and community activities.
Entries for Let’s Celebrate Towns 2026 close at 23:59 on 25 October. Winners will be selected by an independent judging panel drawn from business and industry organisations and announced at an awards ceremony in Parliament on 14 December.
