Let’s Celebrate Towns - run by Visa and supported by the British Retail Consortium - is a nationwide showcase, celebrating the hundreds of towns across the UK that are helping businesses and communities to thrive.
People up and down the country are talking about towns, where the majority of us live, work and raise our families. Against a challenging backdrop, there is a lot of positive momentum behind creating the right conditions for towns to thrive, and helping the people and businesses that reside in them to flourish. Policymakers are turning their attention to towns, businesses are investing in them, and government is exploring new ways to unlock their long-term future success - whether through new homes, digital infrastructure, or rejuvenating high streets.
There's a £20,000 grant for each winner to put toward a community project or initiative.
Enter this years competition
Building on the success from the competition over the last two years, in 2025 ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ will continue to highlight what makes our towns unique. We will be shining the spotlight on leading examples of how towns are overcoming challenges and delivering excellence in key areas to support thriving local economies.
By entering, towns across the UK have the chance of attending a national awards ceremony and being one of six towns recognised across our categories: high street transformation, small business support, future skills, connectivity, circularity champion and powering change.
There will be one winner in each category, who will win:
Direct investment in your town
£20,000 for your town to put toward a community project or initiative.
Entries open on Tuesday 1 April 2025 and close on Sunday 8th June 2025.
The six categories
This year’s national showcase will focus on key areas that are crucial to the current and future success of towns. We want to hear the best examples from up and down the country, exploring town initiatives and programmes that are overcoming challenges to promote and support thriving local economies.
Category:
High Street Transformation
Highlighting towns that have creatively reimagined high street spaces to accommodate modern consumer needs, enhance visitor experiences, and integrate digital innovations.
Let's Celebrate Towns 2023 & 2024
In 2023 and 2024, thousands of pounds were invested in community projects across 16 different towns across the UK. From adventure days in Banbridge to a cultural festival in Pontypridd, the Bromsgrove food scene to historical plaques in Annan, Let’s Celebrate Towns has given local leaders the opportunity to spotlight and support what makes their town great – and you could do the same!
Spotlighting Kilmarnock
After facing a challenging three years, local authorities and business associations came together in Kilmarnock to lead a transformation of high-street shopping, embracing digital solutions to help local retailers and customers face down the Covid-19 pandemic and economic challenges.
By investing in “ShopAppy”, these authorities and associations brought 123 local businesses together with over 10,000 customers – for many of these businesses, an online presence would have been simply unimaginable. Local authorities and associations went one step further, developing an “EA Gift Card” for communities across the area – 240 local businesses are now registered to accept the Gift Card.
Having been spotlighted as part of ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ in 2023, Kilmarnock committed to bolstering their digital platform, in order to increase footfall on the high street and bringing people and businesses together.
“For Kilmarnock, ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ has boosted our efforts, and helped us highlight all that is positive about our local area, including the sterling efforts of our business associations. We’ve reaped the benefits of pooling the energy, enthusiasm, skills and resources shared with our partners in Kilmarnock Business Association, Cumnock Business Association and our own Community Led Regeneration Team.
Together we’ve created a vibrant and coherent ‘shop local’ message tied in with our practical help to encourage local online shopping too. We’ll be spending our prize money to create an app which will help drive footfall in our town and village centres, linking projects, businesses and people to foster a positive shop local culture.”
Claire Kavanagh, East Ayrshire Council
Spotlighting Pontypridd
Pontypridd faced significant challenges due to the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and Storm Dennis in 2020. However, by bringing together the District Council, the Your Pontypridd Business Improvement District (BID) and the Town Council Pontypridd has shown resilience and the hallmarks of collaboration.
In 2021, the Council supported Your Pontypridd BID to secure funding to deliver a “Meanwhile Space”. This delivered test trading opportunities on the high street and was a huge success – one business subsequently leased a property previously decimated by Storm Dennis, bringing it back into use. The business has since collaborated with neighbouring businesses in the creation of the “Mill Street Quarter”, a new group of businesses working together to make Pontypridd a vibrant and welcoming place.
Having been spotlighted as the Wales Champion Town, as part of ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns’ in 2023, Pontypridd committed to connect even more residents, especially families, with the town’s businesses and renewed high street.
“We are delighted that our local town has been recognised as among the best in Britain at the UK-wide ‘Let’s Celebrate Towns Awards’, allowing us to showcase the region to the wider community on a nationwide platform. Pontypridd town centre has been the focal point of the community for centuries, having been home of both our National Anthem and National Lido in Ynysangharad War Memorial Park.
The awards recognise not only the significant financial investment in Pontypridd but the positive and collaborative partnerships that exist between stakeholders, who together have and continue to deliver transformational change and a platform for economic growth.
The prize money has already been put to good use with a Funtastic Fridays programme of free to access family activities delivered in Pontypridd throughout the summer of 2023, and we look forward to building on this again in 2024.”
Darren Notley, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council
" Winning has boosted our efforts, and helped us highlight all that is positive about our local area"
Claire Kavanagh, East Ayrshire Council
UK, 18+ only members of the Relevant Organisation of the Town (population between 5,000 and 225,000) they are nominating. 00:01 01/04/25 – 23:59 08/06/25. Visit https://www.visaeupromotions.com/lets-celebrate-towns and complete the online form, providing your details, the category you are entering and provide a written submission of no more than 800 words answering the questions detailed, together with evidence in support of your submission, focusing specifically on the questions and criteria below to enter the Promotion for the relevant category. You are encouraged to submit evidence to support your entry. No purchase necessary. Prizes: 1 x £20,000 for each winning town per Category, 6 in total. Prizes to be used as a contribution towards a community project (as approved by the Promoter). To receive the Prize, a representative from the winning town must sign a winner waiver. Internet access and a valid email address for the Relevant Organisation required. Max 1 entry per category per Town. Max 1 prize per Visit https://www.visaeupromotions.com/lets-celebrate-towns for full T&Cs and Prize details. Promoter: Visa Europe Limited, 1 Sheldon Square, London, W2 6TT.