Get your business blooming to help revive 20 years of tradition

Horwich town council is launching Business in Bloom in a bid to get the area looking colourful again after the traditional Horwich in Bloom was cancelled last year.

The annual gardening festival ran among residents every summer for 20 years before it was called off due to a shortage of staff and a lack of entries.

After being unsure of where the future lay for Horwich in Bloom, the town council is has decided to take a different tack this year, instead encouraging businesses to decorate their fronts with floral creations, kicking off the new Business in Bloom competition.

Horwich’s deputy town clerk Chloe Morris has been leading the charge to get businesses flowering.

She said: “We feel that Business in Bloom is great initiative to the town centre in regards to brightening up the street scene and encouraging people to visit and shop in Horwich town centre.”

Business in Bloom began at the start of this month, with all local businesses being asked to decorate shop fronts in a carnival theme.

The decorations will coincide with Horwich’s carnival on June 22 and 23 and businesses taking part should complete displays by that weekend for the competition.

All displays will be judged by town mayor councillor Gordon Stone at the carnival, who will decide on a first, second and third place and award certificates to the business which place.

Ms Morris added: “We are very fortunate to have a great town centre and would like visitors from outside the Parish who have come to watch the carnival want to return each year if not for the carnival, but for the businesses involved in this.

“Displays must be in place in time for the Horwich Carnival but shops that do not have a window need not worry as they could be decorated with baskets.

“We hope that everybody gets into the community spirit and has great fun in decorating their shop fronts.”

To get more information, call the deputy town clerk on 01204 691090 or go to horwich.gov.uk