Help Promote NW5 Business & Culture

The environment

The project's mission was to help people live more local with sustainability in mind. Our weekly WhatsApp newsletter has been proven to help people learn more about Kentish Town and discover new fun things on their doorsteps. This means people have travelled less and have found happiness within 15-mins walk of their house instead of an hour on the tube. The local business interviews and window displays created an affiliation between shop retailer and local resident through their storytelling via eye-catching portraits and interviews. This encouraged people to shop more locally instead of using large internet retailers. This in turn will have reduced the carbon impact of home deliveries and have helped the local economy.

The local economy

We improved people's knowledge of the local area through storytelling (local business interviews) and weekly updates (our WhatsApp newsletter) and in turn created an affinity between local residents and local shops. In a survey done in October 2022 of 650+ subscribers: 87% said Town Spot had made them participate more in the local economy. 92.4% said Town Spot had helped them improve their knowledge of their local area. As a result of the exhibition, people made decisions to spend their money within local shops in Kentish Town. This will have boosted the local economy.

Volunteering, jobs & education

In our WhatsApp newsletter there has been a specific section that highlights local volunteering and job opportunities. Every week we have suggested at least one local job or volunteering opportunity to nudge people towards taking part in the local economy. For an example of success with this, here's a quote from a current subscriber to our WhatsApp weekly newsletter. "I found a volunteering opportunity at Castlehaven Community Centre because of Town Spot" Also, someone found a job through the newsletter: "I just wanted to say such a big thank you to you. I recently applied for a job I found out about via your newsletter, which I got and have now accepted and it’s all thanks to Town Spot! So thank you so much." In a survey done in October 2022 of 650+ subscribers: 70.6% said Town Spot had made them want to take more social action within their local community. Finally, the delivery of the project took a team of 3 people. Therefore 3 part time jobs were created.

Arts, culture & heritage

Our weekly WhatsApp newsletter has been supported arts and culture for the past 3 years, providing people with information about local events, including street parties, theatre, comedy shows, and talks. Simply by signposting people to certain events we've been successful in driving people towards supporting local arts and culture in the area. In a survey done in October 2022 of 650+ subscribers: 73.5% said Town Spot had made them feel more engaged with the local community. By making the newsletter free for 1 year, we've be able to widen the reach of the newsletter to currently 700+ people in Kentish Town. This has produced a boost to local arts and culture, generating additional social value. In terms of heritage, our local shop interviews were focused on the history of the business and what came before that shop. For example, before Phoenicia Food Hall there was a Blockbusters and a Kitchen/Garden in its place. These kind of stories successfully gave residents a sense of place and heritage, and helped them feel more rooted in Kentish Town.

Activity, health and leisure

Our weekly WhatsApp newsletter will successfully signposted people toward exercise classes in the area. For example, we feature local events such as Saturday morning Yoga classes that happen at The Vine pub. Snippets of clear and concise information on leisure events like this will seek to promote activity & leisure in the area. In a survey done in October 2022 of 650+ subscribers: 73.9% said Town Spot had helped them live more local. 41.3% said Town Spot had helped them feel less lonely. Loneliness is proved to be bad for your health. Promoting community and showing people they are not alone is vitally important and a strong part of our mission.