Carnegie UK Trust launches initiative to revitalise town centres

UK charity Carnegie UK Trust has launched a nationwide initiative, TestTown, to offer young people the opportunity to bring a new business to life and to help revitalise the UK’s flagging high street. The initiative aims to fill the void left by the 50,000 vacant shops, according to The Local

Data Company, in Britain’s town centres by attracting young entrepreneurs between the ages of 16 and 30 years old to open their own retail businesses.

TestTown, part pop-up festival, part skills course and part innovation competition, has been in development for over two years and launches on the back on a success pilot that the charity ran last year in Dunfermline, which created a number of successful businesses and helped double footfall during the seven day enterprise programme.

The charity is calling on young entrepreneurs in Manchester, Middlesbrough, Rhyl, Kirkintilloch, Bury St Edmunds, Perth and Coleraine to apply to be part of the TestTown scheme this summer. Each regional winner will be given 500 pounds in start-up funds to trial their ideas in unused high street spaces that will be made available to the TestTown groups and individuals.

Each town will select a national finalist, whose idea will then be tested against the other regional finalists at an undisclosed high street location. The national winner of the competition will receive 10,000 pounds to invest in their business, as well as ongoing support from Carnegie UK Trust and its partners.

Jim Metcalfe, TestTown programme leader at the Carnegie UK Trust, said: “The time has come to offer young people the opportunity to bring a new perspective to our high streets. In the age of online shopping and social media, town centres need to adapt to woo local people back into them.

“TestTown will demonstrate that imaginative, youthful thinking can help our flagging high streets. It will show young people that they can realise their potential, and create great new businesses. There is chronic youth unemployment in the UK and the sight of vacant shops in our town centres is something this initiative aims to change.”

Applications open for Carnegie UK Trust TestTown competition

The competition is open to people are who are in business, or are new to business, and they can be proposing to sell goods, provide a service, or use the project to demonstrate new products. The initiative can be charitable or for profit – the only rule is that the physical town centre space is used as a productive hub for delivering the business – whether that’s a shop, an office, a public park or a market stall.

Metcalfe added: “We have deliberately selected a diverse range of towns for our regional heats. Some are thriving; others have challenging retail environments; and some attract more tourist traffic. Each brings a unique aspect to TestTown and should provide really interesting results.

“As a result, there is no need for applicants to simply look at their nearest ‘TestTown’. Applicants should assess what might suit their business idea. TestTown is about giving the next generation of entrepreneurs the support needed to help make their business idea a reality, after all.”

Applications to take part in TestTown are open until April 16, and the local competitions will take place between May and August this year, with the national final taking place in the autumn.