Explore West Northants app gets Christmas makeover

The Explore West Northants app has received a festive makeover – including a brand-new Christmas category complete with lots of seasonal deals and offers from local traders.

In addition to shopping, you can search for fun family days out from a variety of great events and activities taking place all over West Northamptonshire.

The free mobile app, which was launched earlier this year, is currently home to hundreds of local businesses and showcases everything that makes West Northants such a great place to visit – from shopping and eating, to events and attractions, you can find it all at your fingertips.

The Explore West Northants app enables users to:

• Gain access to a huge variety of exclusive local deals, offers and discounts
• View a live events calendar and easy-to-access information about local attractions
• Discover hidden gems in our towns, villages and rural areas
• Explore the market towns and rich heritage right on our doorstep
• Grow the local economy by supporting independent businesses and attractions, benefiting everyone in the community

The recent Small Business Saturday (SBS) campaign, which took place on December 3, also provided a great opportunity for people to visit their local high streets and support small businesses.

"We are very proud to have wonderful independent shops, traders and restaurants based across West Northants offering a great range of choice and products, many of which can be found within our Explore West Northants app.

“Small Business Saturday provided a fantastic opportunity for us all to shop local and support small businesses, and it was great to see such a good turnout – however we want to make sure we are doing this all year round.

“There is a wealth of free support and advice available from the WNC Economy Team and we encourage all small businesses to utilise this and sign up to the Explore West Northants app so they can really showcase themselves to the widest possible audience.”Councillor Daniel Lister, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Town Centre Regeneration and Growth

The Metro bank in Northampton held a networking event to kickstart the day and celebrate the 10^th anniversary of the national campaign supported by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC), who also helped to promote businesses’ events and offers across social media with a range of inspiring videos.

WNC councillors also paid a visit to their favourite local stores to raise awareness of WNC support, champion supporting local and do some Christmas shopping.

“We recognise the importance of networking and each store regularly hosts business networking events to educate, inform and embrace the issues local businesses face and need additional support and help with.

“These events – like our recent hosting of Small Business Saturday - genuinely help connect businesses together, which in turn adds additional value to supporting our customers to do more business.” Kerry Reynolds, Area Director, Metro Bank

WNC are also promoting the Small Awards, which will take place on 11 May, run by Small Business Britain who organise Small Business Saturday. The Awards target the whole small business sector focusing on businesses often overlooked by other awards, and WNC are inviting all of the amazing West Northants SMEs to participate in these national awards.

Find out more and download the Explore West Northants app on our website, or if you represent a business or attraction you can also sign up to promote yourself.

For more information about support and advice for businesses, visit the WNC Economy webpage or contact economy@westnorthants.gov.uk.