Plea for businesses to use the Earlestown Leveling Upund ‘wisely’ !

Earlstown has secured £20m from the government’s Leveling Upund to revitalize the town centre, with major projects aimed at attracting more visitors to the area.

Changes to Earlestown railway station and redevelopment of the town’s historic market square are among the projects planned for Earlestown.

Read> Plans for Earlestown station have been revealed following the success of Leveling Up

However, local residents and business owners have expressed their thoughts on the successful bid as they hope the grant will enhance the business scene.

Lee Kenwright, Principal at Two Dogs Tattoo Art, has lived in Newton-le-Willows his whole life and hopes the secured funding will be used “wisely”.

He said to me, “I think the new and different stores will give this town a huge boost; if they spend this money wisely, it will be fine.”

“A lot of shops here are closed today or closed.

“The people who are still running their business now, fair play to them.”

The number of closed businesses and closed stores during some days of the week is also an issue in the area.

The shutters of a number of Market Street businesses have closed (Photo: St Helens Star)

Local residents hope the £20m fund will help boost the town centre (Photo: St Helens Star)

Sandra and Elaine, volunteers with Projectreedom, also shared their thoughts on downtown regeneration.

The charity shop has its busiest days on market days (Photo: St Helens Star)

The couple have lived in Earlstown all their lives and are unsure of the planned changes to the historic markets of the city centre.

Sandra said: “It’s a traditional market; we don’t want to develop it and take half the market away from it. It should be left as it is – we’ve been a market for hundreds of years, so why modernize it.”

“The market brings people because our busiest days areriday and Saturday.”

Pamela Lewis, a florist from theunky Bunch, is left with only about £50 a week for her and her son to live on while the rest of her wages go towards bills and increasing costs for flowers.

Pleased with Earlstown’s successful bid, Pamela believes funding directed at downtown revitalization will help businesses and attract more visitors to the area.

It would be very nice, Pamela said; it would be nice to get new business in here too. Hopefully this will get more people back in town.

“The market is a good thing for a city with a number of people coming from different areas for it.”

The business owner believes that renovating Earlstown will benefit the city’s downtown and its businesses (Photo: St Helens Star)

The business owner also detailed the difficulties she faces in keeping her business afloat, as she relies on calendar events to keep her flower shop open.

She added, “It’s very quiet, everyone on the street feels the same.

“Flowers are luxury items, so bouquets are not what people buy.

“I’ve had to raise my prices for the last six months because flowers are getting so expensive; I don’t know what I’m going to do on Valentine’s Day because everything has gone up so much.

“It is my passion, but it affects me greatly because I no longer get paid; it goes to the bills.

“It’s so frustrating and stressful, I’m putting in more and more hours in exchange for money.”