Shop Front Revitalisation Scheme for Mid and East Antrim

Grants for Ballymena, Larne, and Carrickfergus town centre businesses

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council, supported by the Department for Communities, has launched a Shop Front Revitalisation Scheme to help local businesses make their shop fronts visually attractive and appealing to residents and visitors.

The grants scheme is part of the Mid and East Antrim Revitalising Town Centres 2023/24 Programme and is for eligible businesses in the town centres of Ballymena, Larne, and Carrickfergus.

The scheme is open to the following types of business (with shop front onto the street or outdoor public footway):

• independent retailers (engaged in the retail sale of goods)
• independent private coffee shops, cafes, bars and restaurants
• independent hair and beauty businesses
• independent health and fitness related businesses
• independent service providers such as estate agents, financial advisors, mortgage and insurance
• business owners whose premises front onto public streets

The applicant must be the owner or lessee of the subject premises and must provide proof of same.

The grants programme offers grants ranging from £500 to £4,999 for businesses to help support the improvement of the overall appearance of commercial properties that front onto the streetscape in each of the town centres.

This will be complemented by additional investment by the Council and the Department for Communities in the infrastructure and life of the town centres - to make them safer and more attractive, and to increase footfall.

Find out more and apply for the Shop Front Revitalisation Scheme.

For further information, email revitalise@midandeastantrim.gov.uk.

First published 3 November 2023