Delight as Oldham Council awards £266,000 to boost town centre businesses

Oldham Council has handed out £266,000 in shop-front grants to 25 traders and charities, the biggest single round since the scheme began. The money, drawn from Greater Manchester's growth fund, will pay for new signage, lighting and repairs along Union Street, Yorkshire Street, Henshaw Street and George Street.

Recipients range from a one-woman florist on Yorkshire Street to the learning-disability charity Pennine Mencap, whose Union Street base will get its first proper branded frontage. Staff and service users told council leader Arooj Shah the facelift will make their entrance more visible and less intimidating for new visitors.

The council says the grants are deliberately weighted toward independents rather than chains, on the basis that each improved frontage nudges neighbours to spruce up too. Early evidence from last year's pilot suggests footfall rose 8% on blocks where at least half the units took the offer.

Work must finish by March 2027 so the full strip shows its new face before the next financial quarter. Traders have already begun stripping old vinyl and surveying stonework; scaffolding is expected on at least eight properties before the schools break up for summer.