Historic England helps historic high streets to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic

High Street, Bedford
High Street, Bedford. Image: Danny Robinson Wikimedia CC BY SA 2.0

68 historic high streets across England have been offered government funding to give them a new lease of life. This fund will help them recover from declining footfall and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The High Streets Heritage Action Zone initiative is funded with £40 million from the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport’s Heritage High Street Fund and £52 million from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Future High Street Fund. A further £3 million will be provided by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to support a cultural programme.

Historic buildings on the high streets give a character to local towns and cities, making each distinctive and appealing to people. Up to 48% of the nation’s retail stock was built before 1919. The loss of business occupiers in these historic buildings is placing them at risk and undermining the character, local identity, and viability of the high street.

An additional £1.57 billion Cultural Recovery Fund from the government will help in tackling the impact the pandemic has had on prominent arts organisations and heritage sites and breathe new life into historic high streets across the country.

Read further on the allotted amount for each of the streets at Historic England.

Read more about Historic England.

This article was originally published in English. Texts in other languages are AI-translated. To change language: go to the main menu above.

Doneren