BUSINESS GRANTS
SHOP FRONT IMPROVEMENT GRANT
APPLICATIONS OPEN
Our shop front improvement scheme aims to improve shop fronts in selected areas as a means of supporting the growth of local businesses, improving the local environment and raising the image of the town centre amongst locals and visitors.
The grant offers 50% matched funding up to £500 to our members. See some of the past funded projects below.
Matched Shop Front Improvement Grant
All BID levy-paying businesses and voluntary levy-payers located within the Go Forth Stirling BID area are eligible to apply for the grant. The grant covers 50% of the improvement’s cost with a limit of £500.
If you’re interested in applying, please download and read the guidance document first and then submit your application or let us know if you have any questions regarding eligibility.
Other Sources of Funding
for Shop Front Improvements
Stirling City Heritage Trust Traditional Shopfronts Grant
Stirling City Heritage Trust Traditional Shopfronts grant is for repairs or enhancement works such as hand-painted signage, timber repairs, conservation of traditional details and reinstatement of missing architectural features of commercial premises within the Stirling Conservation area.
Stirling City Heritage grants can be paired with our shop front improvement grant. Examples of businesses that benefited from both funds include: Shelter, MacFarlane Physiotherapy, Ginger Roots, A Wee Favour and House of Henderson.
FUNDED PROJECTS
Matched-funded Projects
- Chester's Coffee House
- Beau Boutique
- Jayla & Co
- The Kilted Kangaroo
- The Scottish Gantry
- Santa Cruz Kustom Club
- The Hemp Room Cafe
- Caffe Pompei as Love Brownies
- Calluna Ethical Living
- Jeff Buchan Hair
- Vera Artisan Bakery Barnton Street
- Mobileshaq
- Soupbox
- Best One
- Stirling Credit Union
- Ahdors Gold & Gifts
- Coorie Creative
- Ginger Roots
- Centre Stage Dancewear
- A Wee Favour
- Cash Converters
- MacFarlane Physiotherapy
- The Treatment Works
- Nicky Tams
- Shelter
- Amore Hair & Beauty
- KeepSakes
- HBW
- One Allan Park
- Game of Throwing
- Transition Stirling
- Il Vicolo
- Something Old Something New
- Vera Artisan Bakery Kitchen King Street
- Nooch Bar & Kitchen
Clan Artisan
Room 23
Erol's Tailor Shop
Brea
Simpson & Co
‘Supercharged’ Shop Front Improvement Grant
Following approval of funding from Stirling Council in 2021, 10+ grants of up to £5K each were available to business owners with ambitious plans to revitalise their shop entrances and enhance Stirling’s overall appearance. Successful applicants included:
- Fone Express - new shopfront and signage
- Cafe Aina - new signage
- The Pend & Frances Hunter Hairdressing - improvement of a close: wall sandblasting, installation of lights, artificial ivy, bin shed
- TJ's - new awnings
- D.S. Macdonald Watchmaker & Jeweller - new signage
- Specsavers - fascia repair and new signage
- Clan Kilts - new signage, painting
- Thistles Shopping Centre - direction signs
- Castle Leisure Group - building cleaning
- Frown Docs - floral installations
- Hermann's - floral installations
- Toasted (formerly Voseba) - signage and painting
- Golden Lion Hotel - ambiance lighting
- Costcutter - shop front maintenance
- U Save - shop front maintenance
- House of Henderson - fascia repair, new awnings, new signage
- Alloa Bedroom Centre - repainting
- Tutti Pizza - painting, signage
- former Tui - fascia repair and painting
- Monterey Jack's
E-COMMERCE GRANT
APPLICATIONS CLOSED
This grant scheme was designed to help businesses either start trading online or develop their existing online activity during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Businesses could use it to create their first website, improve the design of their existing site, introduce new features such as e-commerce or booking systems or invest in search engine optimisation or their social media strategy.
The grant offered match-funded contributions of up to £1,000.
FUNDED PROJECTS
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Online store integration to allow for dropshipping.
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Contribution to an online booking system.
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Contribution to digital marketing strategy consultancy.
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Contribution to the new e-commerce site of Chester’s Coffee House that sells coffee beans and luxurious hampers.
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Contribution to the new website with a video, e-commerce and enhanced booking system.
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Contribution to the Content Management System.
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Contribution to the Content Management System.
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Website performance optimisation.
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Digital marketing.
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New website with e-shop.
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Offline and online epos integration.
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New website.
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New website.
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Other Support Mechanisms
for Digital Marketing
EVENT SPONSORSHIPS
ALWAYS OPEN
We regularly sponsor events and initiatives that bring benefit to the city and its traders.
We’re keen to support events which objectives match ours and accept sponsorship applications from our members as well as external event promoters and organisers interested in hosting an event in our BID zone.
SPONSORED EVENTS
Go Forth Stirling regularly sponsors Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival that takes place every September.
The Go Forth & Bloody Scotland partnership gives opportunity for Stirling traders to maximise the opportunities brought by Bloody Scotland (and their 10,000+ ticket holders).
We sponsored the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award in 2022 and 2023 with the opportunity to promote Stirling, its businesses and music venues directly to the event attendees.
Go Forth Stirling sponsored Stirling Photography Festival in 2019. The festival increased footfall to the Stirling City Centre and sponsorship of the event gives an opportunity to market directly to ticket holders.
On a more practical, business support level, the festival included a day of workshops exclusively for BID members.
You can read more about the sponsorship here.
Go Forth Stirling sponsored the National Wallace Monument’s 150th anniversary celebrations which marked the beginning of our partnership. The National Monument received over 130,000 visitors in 2018 and we are working with the Monument to encourage those people to build a visit to Stirling City Centre into their itinerary.
Go Forth Stirling sponsored the Inspire Volunteer Awards run by Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise (SVE) in 2019. The annual honours recognise and reward Stirling’s scores of volunteers who dedicate their time to helping others in the community.
Go Forth Stirling sponsored the Volunteering for Strong Organisations Award. GFS Vice-chair David Black was delighted to present to the winning team from Camphill Blair Drummond Board of Trustees who were recognized for their good governance and leadership.
You can read more about it here.
Stirling charity, Support for Families, ran a successful animation film scheme for the city’s youngsters which was joint funded by grants from Go Forth Stirling BID and Place Management Scotland.
The teenagers met weekly for sessions which saw them write and develop their own short animation film about Stirling over an eight-week period. The completed films were due to be showcased during a special event at Made in Stirling in March which had to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Support for Families helps vulnerable families and the project aimed to engage local teenagers and make them feel part of the Stirling community. It followed some complaints from traders at the Top of The Town about youngsters behaving in an anti-social manner.
