Oyez Oyez Oyez it’s Small Business Saturday

Town crier Peter Taunton made a whistle stop tour of the borough’s four main town centres, Brierley Hill, Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge to encourage people to shop local and support their local high street as part of the weekend’s Small Business.

The town crier appeared in Dudley’s medieval marketplace before heading to Brierley Hill market and Stourbridge High Street and Somers Square in Halesowen, promoting the towns and encouraging locals to support local businesses.

The theme of this year’s national campaign for Small Business Saturday is ‘find your local hero’ and Dudley Council  supported it with a social media advent calendar, celebrating local businesses.

The calendar showcased businesses of all shapes and sizes from across the borough throughout December, as well activities and offers which took place on Small Business Saturday, via Twitter and Facebook.

On Small Business Saturday, the council has teamed up with the staff at Halesowen Bid, who are providing 14 free market stalls in Somers Square, Halesowen to existing small businesses in and around the town centre, including Dancers, Base 63 and SkateHut, to help promote the products and services they offer.

There was also children’s entertainment available and a local gym doing fitness demonstrations.

In Dudley town centre the council has been working with Tudor Markets to offer 10 free market stalls on Dudley Market to existing businesses in the town, including Black Country T Shirts and to a number of start-up businesses who came forward following a request from Dudley Council. There will also be entertainment on throughout the day in the town centre by local performers.

In Brierley Hill, shoppers to the town’s regular market visited Santa’s Grotto and listen to music by the George Formby Society while they shop.

In Stourbridge they can support local makers in Stourbridge and browse unique handmade products at the local festive makers market, from 10am to 5pm at General Office Gallery.

Kevin O’Keefe, chief executive at Dudley Council, said:

The small shops and traders up and down our high streets have a huge part to play in the success of our town centres and the growth of our local economy.

It will be great to have a town crier with us tomorrow, drumming up support and encouraging local people to shop local this Small Business Saturday and in the run up to Christmas.

Through the Dudley Deal, we will continue to do our bit to support small businesses in our borough and it would be great if local people can help us do this too.