Community Projects helping to boost Stoke town

A collective of local businesses and community organisations have been injecting a boost into Stoke town following the introduction of various activities and projects.

Following support from the Stoke High Street Accelerator pilot, 12 projects have so far received funding, which have included mini-festivals, litter picks, food festivals, ghostronomy walks, creative workshops and collaborations to create artistic exhibitions and murals.

Stoke High Street Accelerator Project is a pilot which is funded by the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC). £237k was awarded to Stoke Town through Stoke-on-Trent City Council to be spent in the financial year 2024/25.

Since October - one of the organisations who have received funding - B-arts have been running their Saturday Series events as part of the pilot. These have taken place in the town, between Stoke Library and Stoke Indoor Market, where members of the public have taken part in workshops and activities.

Event producer of the Saturday Series at B Arts, Rebecca Frankenberg said:  “The idea of the events is to explore different ways to use the space and encourage people to spend time in Stoke, so far we have run an alternative harvest festival event with lots of traditional games with a twist, a punk inspired event with live music and DIY arts activities, a mini street-theatre festival, Covent Garden Stoke Style--including a living Clarice Cliff Statue, and creating pop up spaces to dwell, including sensory play areas, a giant nest installation, and a space for meditation and flow activities.

“All the events are free and we have been working with different groups, community members of different ages, and creatives to test new ideas and see what kind of events people would like to take part in on the square.”

Rebecca adds: “Since we started in October, almost 1000 people have taken part, often choosing to spend most of the day in the town. Feedback from the Indoor Market is that they have noticed they do get busier when the event is on - which is fantastic as part of what we're trying to do is to encourage more people to explore the whole town and what it has to offer.”

The participatory arts organisation - which is continuing with its Saturday Series events with the next one planned for Saturday 19 April - has also been hosting lantern making workshops and lantern parades - the latest one being on Friday 21 March which took place in Stoke Town and more planned for the Autumn.

British Ceramics Biennial (BCB), who are based at the Spode site, are another organisation involved in the pilot.

They have hosted three Open Source: Creative Days on Stoke High Street in collaboration with Framescape CIC. The first took place on 31 August 2024, followed by 30 November 2024, and then on 22 February 2025. The free to attend workshops and drop in activities - which took place at BCB and Franescape  - saw families and local communities take part in creative exploration through clay and digital making. 

Jo Mills, Studio and Community Programme Manager for BCB, said: “We had 230 visitors across the three events, and many stayed on the High Street for most of the day, intending to visit the shops and cafes nearby.

“It was great to see visitors get creative with hands-on activities that reflected the heritage of Stoke’s high street whilst building their skills and confidence. We hope that the events encourage more people into the town centre, supporting local businesses as well as raising awareness of two nationally significant creative organisations located on the high street.”

Stoke HSA pilot project aims to bring together local authorities, residents, local businesses, and community organisations to work in partnership to develop and deliver projects to improve their town and create a long-term vision to regenerate Stoke Town Centre. It is an opportunity to test and trial new ways of working to revitalise the high street and to tackle vacant units.

In the coming months more events and activities will see artistic workshops and exhibitions, a Town Tree Trail will be unveiled along with murals and litter picks will be taking place along canals.

As well as this pilot, £500,000 Green Space Funding was also awarded to Stoke-on-Trent City Council to enable Accelerator partnerships to deliver projects to improve green spaces and parklets around Stoke Town Centres high street.

This was awarded by the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and to date 14 projects have been approved through the Greenspace funding with the majority of which now in delivery.