Businesses & Community Groups To Receive Funding From Belfast City Council

As the retail sector prepares to finally reopen this Friday it is good to see that Belfast City Council are supporting a raft of businesses and community groups in the city with £690,000 of further funding. This funding is being made available to help them recover as swiftly as possible from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The money is coming directly from the Department for Communities’ Covid-19 recovery programme.

Great Excitement Building

There is great excitement building over the reopening of retail shops across Northern Ireland as well as not a little relief from the businesses themselves who are bursting to open their doors to the public once more. I am sure that they will be very busy on Friday and over the coming weeks.

Speaking about the funding in the Belfast Telegraph, Councillor David Brooks, Chair of Belfast City Council’s City Growth and Regeneration Committee, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has forced us all to rethink how we use our city’s spaces and places and given us a renewed impetus to make our city more vibrant, diverse, and inclusive. We knew that our businesses and community groups would come up with innovative proposals to help increase footfall and boost spend in local businesses and we’re very much looking forward to seeing these projects come to fruition, because they’ll help our communities and our city recover from the effects of the pandemic.”

Enhancing The Environment

With the help of this funding businesses will be carrying out shopfront improvements and changes to enhance the environmental aspect of their business area. Environmental projects will also include a community farm, community gardens, sensory gardens and the upgrading of an outdoor installation along with a mural project.

Safety Remains At The Forefront Of Our Minds

Talking about the reopening of stores on Friday in the same article

Primark chief executive, Paul Marchant, said: “We can’t wait to welcome back our customers in Northern Ireland, we’ve seen a great response to our re-opening by our customers in England and Wales.

“Safety remains at the front of our minds. We have extended opening hours in our stores in Northern Ireland to help meet demand safely but we’re also asking our customers for their support in adhering to social distancing and safety measures, both while queuing outside and in-store, to help maintain a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for all.”

We are all looking forward to all the retail shops opening here in Armagh on Friday, I am sure there will lots of people doing a bit of retail therapy over the course of this coming weekend!