The winners of the 2018 Great British High Street Awards (GBHS) have been announced. The awards, run by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and sponsored by Visa, recognise and celebrate the local achievements of the nation’s high streets.
The independent judging panel selected the shortlisted finalists for the Champion and Rising Star awards. These 38 shortlisted finalists were visited by GBHS judges to assess who would be crowned the winners of the 2018 Awards and the public given the chance to vote for their favourite high street.
Crickhowell high street on the edge of the Welsh Brecon Beacons has been announced as the overall winner. Crickhowell was praised for its community-led Totally Locally Campaign, which brought over 100 shops together to promote the high street and run initiatives to boost local footfall and access to services. The campaign also led to a local group purchasing and renovating a former high street pub to convert into three shops with residential premises above. Crickhowell is home to the first Zero Waste shop in Wales and has a local ‘Plastic Free Crickhowell’ initative to reduce the use of plastic.
Crickhowell high street has won a £10,000 grant for a local community project and £5,000 contribution towards a street party.
Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire said: “Congratulations to Crickhowell and to all of today’s winners at the Great British High Street Awards. I am delighted to see so many people get behind their local high street. This government has put high streets at the centre of the Autumn Budget and we are determined to support them to adapt and thrive for generations to come.”
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We have been delighted to support the Great British High Street Awards from its conception by the Future High Streets Forum, on which we sit, through to the judging process that we enjoyed taking part in. These examples of the best high streets in the UK should inspire local councils, businesses and residents to get together and emulate some of these ideas for their own high streets.”
In addition to the overall winner, 8 high streets from each of the home nations won awards in the Champion and Rising Star categories.
The full list of winners is as follows:
Overall UK winner
- High Street, Crickhowell
Champion High Streets
- England: Altrincham Town Centre
- Scotland: High Street, Alness
- Wales: High Street, Crickhowell
- Northern Ireland: Portadown Town Centre
Rising Star High Streets
- England: Burnley Road, Todmorden
- Scotland: High Street, Newport-on-Tay
- Wales: High Street, Cowbridge
- Northern Ireland: Bow Street, Lisburn
More information about the Great British High Street campaign can be found at: https://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/
