Mayor's Fund Brings Improvements To Your Local High Street

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 108 months ago
Mayor's Fund Brings Improvements To Your Local High Street

Tottenham High Street is one of many areas that will benefit from funding. Photo by Stephen Illife, in the Londonist Flickr pool.

In October last year we covered the launch of a cash pot of up to £9m, courtesy of Greater London Authority’s (GLA) Regeneration Team, with the aim of breathing fresh life into high streets across London. Now, initial awardees of the grant have been announced — and it's good news for a number of small businesses and community groups.

Of the 83 of these which applied for High Street Fund grants, 17 will receive up to £20,000 of funding from the Mayor of London, which was made available through the crowdfunding site Spacehive.

Making a Makerspace in Herne Hill is one such successful applicant — the project sets out to create a long-term home for a community workshop where people can develop new businesses.

Another awardee is Tottenham Fast Food — a setup pledging to provide healthier alternatives to fast food, while creating jobs and training opportunities in the centre of Tottenham. It'll give youngsters the chance to learn about healthier options, and benefit from school visits and workshops from food experts, including farmers and leading chefs.

Creative industries have fared well in the bidding too — including a roving pop-up comedy club on Romford High Street, an artistic workspace in Haringey and a new cultural quarter in Roehampton.

25 larger borough-led projects are to receive larger chunks of funding. Money will be invested to make Whitechapel High Street "a more cohesive and lively route between the City and Stratford" (although isn't the thoroughfare already lively, and since when is the cohesion of a streetscape a good thing?). Brixton will get free wi-fi zones and its own ‘Brixton £’ cash machine, which is pretty cool. A full list of grants is available on the GLA's website.

Got an enterprise that you think deserves a slice of the funding? There's still over £285,000 available in the second round. Post your ideas on the Mayor’s Spacehive page before 29 June 2015.

Last Updated 05 March 2015