With Valentine’s Day in mind – how about showing your love for local? That’s the idea behind a campaign being mounted by The Bath Business Improvement District (Bath BID), in collaboration with ShopAppy, to encourage people to support local businesses.
Love Local Day is centred on sharing the love of all things local. Over the past year, businesses have been there for the community more than ever, offering Bath residents a lifeline with home deliveries and online events to tackle the lockdown blues. It has never been more important to support Bath’s businesses, and although we are currently under lockdown restrictions, there are still lots of ways for people to spend their money locally.
To help with this, the Bath BID’s Welcome to Bath website offers a directory of essential shops and services, businesses offering takeaways and grocery delivery services, and local retailers with online shops. They have also put together a list of five easy ways to get involved with Love Local Day and give Bath’s businesses some lockdown love:
- Order a takeaway. Although it is not currently possible to dine out in Bath, many of the city’s restaurants are offering takeaways.
Find out more: welcometobath.co.uk/takeaways
- Stock up on essentials. Many of Bath’s shops, restaurants and cafés are currently offering grocery delivery services – perfect for ensuring your fridge is filled with delicious produce without stepping out of your front door.
Find out more: welcometobath.co.uk/grocery-delivery-services
- Shop online. Bath has an assortment of unique shops offering beautiful items that can’t be found elsewhere. Although you can’t currently head into the city centre to make your purchases, you can buy from Bath’s indies online.
Find out more: welcometobath.co.uk/online-shops
- Buy a Bath Gift Card. If you are looking for the perfect present, look no further than the Bath Gift Card. It is accepted at over 200 businesses in the city, so your loved ones can treat themselves to something special, and offers a great way to invest in local businesses during lockdown.
Find out more: bathgiftcard.com
- Spread the love. A great way to show your appreciation for Bath’s businesses is with a social media shout-out. Tell all your friends you love local on Sunday 14th February, using the hashtag #LoveLocalDay.
Allison Herbert, Chief Executive of the Bath BID, said: “We are delighted to be supporting ShopAppy’s Love Local Day initiative. It’s never been more important to invest in local businesses, and we encourage people to spread the local love and show businesses how much they are valued on Love Local Day.”
Dr Jackie Mulligan, Founder of ShopAppy, added: “It has been a challenging decade, and never more so than over this last year, for our town centres and high streets, but we know there is tremendous love for local businesses in our communities. This is the first in a series of activities being planned to encourage people to support local and will highlight the importance and positive impact these businesses have in the life of our communities and commercial hearts, and how critical they will be to our social and economic recovery.”
Find out more: welcometobath.co.uk
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Bath, Cllr Manda Rigby, has dedicated February 14th as her ‘Combatting Loneliness Day.’
She’s recorded a message on YouTube and sent the following email.
“Would you do something for me? It will not take long, might only take five minutes? My theme for the year, is ‘Combatting Loneliness, Bath the friendly City’, and a lot of the work the Mayor’s Office and its supporters have put in has been trying to live up to that promise.
As physical meetings are impossible, just at the time they would probably be most welcomed, much of this work has had to be online. And here is the ask: On February 14th, spread the love wider than normal. Obviously safely!
But if you know of anyone who is on their own, or not on their own but feeling low, or isolated, in need of hearing from someone, drop them a card, give them a call, send some flowers, contact online… whatever you think they would most like and you are able to do.
I would hate to think of anyone experiencing loneliness, or struggling with their mental health, and know this one day activity is not going to change the world, but it may just change their world for a few precious minutes, and I can promise that you will feel better for it as well.
If you are on Twitter, please tag @MayorBath and use the hashtag Baththefriendlycity if you want to share with others what you have done and hope to encourage a few more people to do it.
My video message can be found on YouTube Mayor’s Combatting Loneliness Day .
The above details can also be found at http://www.mayorofbath combatting-loneliness-day.
