Walking around towns and cities over in the UK you can see a change.

Following years of crises, and high street chain collapses, local businesses are finally back where they belong, on the up.

It is with no doubt social media has helped, Twitter hours like @CovHour #CovHour help local small business owners to come together, to promote themselves and offer support and Facebook pages have offered a cheaper and efective alternative to reach customers.

However something else has also been supporting this change, Local Currency. 

Local Currency has taken off over the last few years, initially launching in Brixton, other towns across the UK have been diverting their attention from sterling and focusing on local finance.

In the South West of England, you can find Bristol, here the Bristol Pound is omnipresent throughout the region. The Bristol Pounds are created specifically for the use of local, independent businesses allowing the locals to put their money back into their town.

Where larger businesses have failed, it now seems like the underdogs are succeeding and with the current economic climate, there has been no better time in which to go local.

Consumers are increasingly becoming more concerned with the impact and effect that their finances have on their own town, economically and environmentally and are moving away from larger businesses.

With this rise, small businesses are becoming the key players in their own town and it’s growth, not some global corporation paying little or no taxes to the town and with no personal connection to it.

In focusing on the local, we can make an entire country a more stable and culturally rich place to be. The local traders are our neighbours, families and friends. it is in their interest to support their community and us to support them.

Doing so will ensure our towns’ legacies and provide for future generations to come.