If you live in or near Helston, and you’re able to leave your home, why not plan a visit to your town centre soon to support our brilliant independent businesses?

Research by local authorities shows that for every £1 spent with a small or medium-sized business 63p stayed in the local economy. That’s compared to 40p with a larger business. So shopping locally is great way to give a boost to our Helston. 

Helston's Coinagehall Street looking up towards the Guildhall

Road closures and free parking

Helston Town Council is introducing a range of measures to help our shops and businesses to bounce back following an unprecedented loss of trading due to coronavirus. 

To help make it easier and safer to shop locally, the Council will be introducing the following measures:

  • Closure of Meneage Street to traffic between 10am and 4pm Monday to Saturday, beginning 22 June and continuing initially until 12 July. This is to allow safer social distancing.
  • First hour of parking free in Trengrouse Way and Tyacke Road car parks, with second hour at just 50p, or free after 4pm.
  • Trengrouse Way and Monument Walk toilets to be reopened with twice daily cleans between June 22 and September 30.

There’ll still be a need for social distancing and individual businesses will have their own restrictions on the number of people in their premises and rules on entry. Volunteers will be on hand to monitor safety and report on the success of the scheme.

Looking down to Coinagehall Street Helston

Supporting businesses

In a message on the Town Council website, Helston Mayor Cllr John Martin explained why we all need to support our local shops. “Whilst safety is my prime concern, I am also aware that businesses have taken a huge hit over the past few months. To give this statement some flesh, in April the British economy shrank by over 20%. Compare this to a drop of 1% in September 2008 at the peak of the financial crisis and we can all appreciate the economic emergency facing the country. It is therefore vital that as much assistance as possible is given to businesses in the town.”

Whether you enjoy a 2-for-1 shake deal at Boo Koos (available midday – 4pm until July 3rd), pick up essential store cupboard ingredients at Gillian’s Larder, grab your seasonal fruit and veg at Mrs K’s, or treat someone you haven’t seen for ages to flowers from Sweet Pea, there are so many great reasons to pop into Helston town centre. You could even head over to Coronation Park for a relaxing walk afterwards.

Helston's Coronation Lake

It looks like we’ll all finally be able to get a haircut soon too. Andy’s Barbers have introduced a booking app, with slots available from July 4th from 8am – 8pm on weekdays and 8am to 1pm on Saturday – visit andysgentsbarbersltd.booksy.com Be Gorgeous will be open from Monday July 6th and you can find out more about bookings on their Facebook page.

So why not get planning a trip into town over the next few weeks? You can park for two hours for just 50p (or free if after 4pm). If everyone does it even just once we could make a real difference to our local businesses.