Who Says Our High Streets are Declining?
Not Penzance, which is experiencing an independent retail boom fuelled by local creativity and Town Deal Fund Enterprise Grants. The Penzance BID team reports
‘Penzance is becoming more than a place for picking up a few provisions,’ says Elizabeth Gilbert, Cornwall Council’s Town Deal Enterprise Grant Coordinator. ‘It’s an experiential shopping trip. And it is independent shops that are bringing people in.’
Elizabeth is steering Penzance businesses in their applications for Enterprise Grants that have, at the time of writing, helped 42 of them with funding support. The aim of the Enterprise Grant Scheme is to grow businesses and jobs, and improve the vibrancy of the town centre. And it is just one of a landmark seven projects financed by the £21.5m Penzance Town Deal Fund, awarded by government to improve neighbourhoods and strengthen economic growth.
The grants are a significant milestone for Penzance retail. ‘For many businesses, it’s the first support they’ve ever been able to access,’ says Elizabeth. ‘European Regional Development Fund programmes, which traditionally provided much of the funding for Cornwall over recent years, didn’t support retail activity. This is one of the first really focused investments we’ve seen aimed at small shops and restaurants.’
A buzzing market town
Penzance is several years away from its darker days, where it was a tough call to get an out-of-towner to say much positive about the place. Today, its shops and galleries are bright and colourful beacons of independent retail, its artisan bakeries waft fresh focaccia and Turkish loaves, and its festival flags flutter on the refurbished Promenade. Long-time observers will note that there’s been a bit of magic in the air in Penzance for a few years now – a combination of creative thinking from its business owners and political craft from local groups steering funding opportunities. However, it’s still tough out there. High interest rates, a cost-of-living crisis and eye-wincing overheads for retail outlets continue to squeeze businesses. This is why the Enterprise Grants became a key component of the Penzance Town Deal.
Says Elizabeth, ‘A lot of small and promising businesses have perhaps gone to the “Bank of Mum and Dad”. They’re showing huge potential but, in reality, they’re running on a shoestring. These grants are the thing that can help them take that next step up and consolidate their success.’
Improving the streetscape
The capital grants, which require various degrees of match-funding from businesses, are aimed at small and medium-sized start-ups and scale-ups. With a minimum grant available of £2,500 and a maximum of £250,000, the potential scope in terms of projects is wide. The money has helped fund expansions into unused areas of a premises to add retail space, buy new equipment to widen product ranges, and improve business frontages to attract more footfall. This last feature will, says Elizabeth, make a significant impact – and benefit everyone in Penzance.
She says, ‘The fabric of your shop tends to be quite low on the list of priorities unless you are making substantial profits. These grants make undertaking work possible, which is great for everyone. The better the town looks, the more attractive it is to people coming in locally and from outside of Cornwall. Part of the aim of the grants is to get visitors to do more than just look at the main tourist honeypots – we want them to come up into the town too.’
But, adds Elizabeth, the effects of the funding go way beyond the retail sector. ‘This scheme is about much more than putting, say, £5,000 into a business for a new shop front. It’s about how that £5,000 has also enabled a business to employ a local joinery or decorating company, which in turn employs people in the local economy. It’s that positive knock-on effect that spreads the benefit wider.’
Businesses working together
The response to the Enterprise Grants Scheme has been so successful that, at the time of writing, funding is currently closed to new applicants. Some projects are completed and many more – particularly for the larger grants – are in the works.
As they develop, says Elizabeth, people will see whole clusters of retail outlets enjoying the impact of the funding. This is because business owners have shared news of funding success with neighbours, who have gone on to apply. Collectively, they’re improving and revitalising distinct retail neighbourhoods and the results will be apparent to everyone.
One example is the Wharfside Shopping Centre. For many in the town, those three words will prompt a bit of an eye roll and a sigh. The retail space arrived in 1999 as a bustling arcade where the smell of good coffee and Italian pizza attracted footfall. By the early 2020s, however, like so many town shopping centres across the UK, it had the whiff of disappointment and failure.
The work of creative Penzance businesses harnessing Enterprise Grants is changing all of that. With a fair economic wind, the centre looks likely to become one of the scheme’s more prominent success stories. Albeit with a different look and feel from earlier times.
‘The whole ethos of what makes a town centre is changing,’ says Elizabeth. ‘So there will be lots of new projects and businesses in there with, collectively, an emphasis on experience over traditional retail. These include two restaurants; a skate shop with a space for a dance studio, skate lessons and parties; a bistro; and a sports shop. All of them were able to move or expand into these spaces because of help from Enterprise Grants.’
Spreading the funding wide
There is, of course, an elephant in the room / high street. Critics sometimes point out that the same faces and places tend to hoover up funding opportunities. Elizabeth is keen to point out that this has not been the case for the Enterprise Grants. Read the list of approved projects, which all applied following a well-publicised process, and you’ll discover improvements that range from security shutter upgrades for a jewellery firm and new office space for a financial business, to major kitchen renovations for a café and air conditioning for a gym facility.
There’s also been an effort to include anyone who may struggle with the complications of the application process – Elizabeth meets business owners personally to guide them through the steps. She says, ‘There shouldn’t be barriers to a scheme like this. If you’ve got an issue with your IT skills or you’re dyslexic, we can help you through the process. I have personally sat with business owners and helped them put together the details for their application.’
Community action
The story behind Penzance’s renaissance is a good one. Way before it was announced that Penzance had won £21.5m Town Deal funding in 2021, local groups were paving the way, creating, to use a bit of popular government parlance, ‘oven-ready projects’. One of the prominent players was Penzance BID, which has played a significant behind-the-scenes role in preparing projects to attract funding. It has also been involved in helping businesses with Enterprise Grants.
Says Elizabeth, ‘The BID has been very vocal in supporting its levy payers on various local boards. It’s also really helped us in promoting the scheme to those levy payers. The team has presented us with local knowledge, talked to us about businesses that might want to apply and given local input into our appraisals.’
A bold new era
Our chat with Elizabeth, which is rounding up, has taken place in that grand old gentleman of Penzance, St John’s Hall. Completed in 1867, and the epitome of a prosperous era for the town, it arrived in the wake of several bold Penzance architectural projects: the Market House in 1838, Albert Pier in 1853 and Trinity House in 1866. It’s tempting to draw a direct parallel between the current crackle of energy and optimism in the town with that earlier age of confidence and prosperity. Nobody will deny that achieving success in the current retail landscape requires ingenuity, hard work and a roll or two of the dice. But, despite the challenges, a vibrant retail scene backed by Enterprise Grants and other significant Town Deal projects suggests very good things are coming to Penzance.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, is returning to a pile of applications. She’s helping businesses realise their dream of a new space, new equipment, or a colourful new shop front – all the things that, collectively, are helping Penzance High Street become the one to watch on the Cornish scene for locals, day trippers and visitors from up the line.
Read our story about the Penzance Town Deal Gardeners’ House project.
Find out more about other projects in the Town Deal Fund.
Read the full story behind the Penzance Renaissance.
