Morecambe lands 100,000 Mary Portas cash

Morecambe is to receive £100,000 in government funding to set up a new community café in the town centre and help support local businesses.

The town is one of 15 new areas that have been selected to take part in Portas Pilots, taking the total across the country to 27 including Nelson which was successful in the first round of bids.

The pilots are being set up following an independent review carried out by retail expert Mary Portas into the future of Britain’s high streets.

The funding for Morecambe will be used to set up a new community café where people will be able to get advice and support to take up business and training opportunities. All profits will be ploughed back into the local community to help regenerate the area.

Morecambe will now be able to bid for a £1m Future High Street X-Fund which will reward the most effective and creative scheme encouraging people back to the town centres in 2013. There is also a £500,000 fund to help access set-up loans for new Business Improvement Districts.