Helping the high streets of Hull & East Yorkshire to thrive through practical and tailored support for business owners.
Running a business on the high street in 2026 is challenging. Business owners have to deal with generating more custom, managing staff, paying bills, navigating business regulations, and dealing with anti-social behaviour, all whilst trying to grow the business at the same time.
The High Streets Business Support Programme is here to help.
The programme offers free workshops, one-to-one advice, and hosted ‘high street stakeholder’ forums to discuss the challenges facing specific high streets. All of the information, advice and guidance provided is specifically tailored for high street business owners – i.e. simple, practical steps that businesses can put into action straight away.
What’s Available?
Specialist workshops are available to attend either in-person or online. A full list of current workshop sessions is listed below. The topics covered are as follows:
- Customer Service Excellence
- Visual Merchandising & Sales Conversion
- Seasonal Trading, Flow & Operational Readiness
- Anti-Shoplifting & De-escalation skills
- High Street Marketing for Leisure, Retail & Hospitality firms
- High Street Businesses Online – Local Search, Google & First Impressions
- High Street Businesses Online – Content, Retention & Sustainable Growth
Targeted Support – Four Pilot High Streets
The Programme is also operating as a pilot to better understand the type of advice and support that high street businesses need. In order to do this, the Programme will work with businesses on four ‘target high street’ areas that will receive enhanced support. These four target high streets are:
- Chanterlands Avenue, Hull
- Beverley Road (Stepney District), Hull
- Town Centre, Hessle
- High Street, Pocklington
This targeted support will consist of:
- Up to four hours per business of one-to-one consultation with a retail and hospitality expert. This can include a ‘mystery shopper’ visit and follow-up feedback and advice
- Hosted stakeholder engagement forums, where the challenges and opportunities facing each target high street can be identified and discussed.
Who it’s for
Micro, Small and Medium (SME) sized high street businesses across Hull & East Yorkshire:
- Shops and retailers
- Cafes, pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues
- Service providers with a physical premises (e.g. estate agents or veterinary practices)
- Market traders (either permanent indoor market traders or ‘pop up’ markets)
To be eligible to access the programme, a business must have a physical place of business. The programme is not able to support online retailers that do not operate a physical store or market stall.
Any high street business in Hull & East Yorkshire that meets the above criteria can access the workshop programme.
To access the Targeted Support, your business must operate in one of the target high street areas: Chanterlands Avenue, Hull; Beverley Road (Stepney district), Hull; Hessle Town Centre; and the High Street, Pocklington).
Workshops Available to Book Now
The following workshops are now available to book. Please note that the registration process is managed by HEY Growth Hub delivery partner Invest East Yorkshire (part of East Riding of Yorkshire Council) on behalf of the Growth Hub.
Merchandising & Customer Service Excellence on the High Street – Turning Footfall into Spend & Repeat Business
- 1.30pm – 4.00pm Tuesday 10th February (Hessle Town Hall) – Book Here
- 2.00pm – 4.30pm Tuesday 10th March (Burnby Hall, Pocklington) – Book Here
Customer Service Excellence for High Street Businesses – Webinar Only
- 5.30pm – 7.00pm Monday 2nd February 2026 (Online) – Book Here
Visual Merchandising & Sales Conversion – Webinar Only
- 1.00pm – 2.30pm Thursday 12th February 2026 (Online) – Book Here
Operational Excellence on the High Street – Safety, Seasonality and Readiness
- 2.00pm – 4.30pm Monday 23rd February 2026 (Jubilee Central, Hull) – Book Here
- 1.00pm – 3.30pm Tuesday 17th March 2026 (Beverley Minster, Beverley) – Book Here
Seasonal Trading, Flow & Operational Readiness – Webinar Only
- 10.30am – 12.00pm Wednesday 11th March 2026 (Online) – Book Here
Anti-Shoplifting and De-escalation Skills – Webinar Only
- 5.30pm – 7:00pm Wednesday 11th February (Online) – Book Here
High Street Marketing for Leisure, Retail & Hospitality firms
- 10.30am – 12.00pm Thursday 26th February (Online) – Book Here
- 2.00pm – 3.30pm Wednesday 4th March (Burnby Hall, Pocklington) – Book Here
- 9.30am – 12.00pm Tuesday 24th March (Jubilee Central, Hull) – Book Here
High Street Businesses Online – Local Search, Google & First Impressions
- 9.30am – 10.30am Thursday 5th February (Online) – Book Here
- 1.00pm – 2.00pm Tuesday 24th February (Online) – Book Here
- 5.30pm – 6.30pm Thursday 12th March (Online) – Book Here
High Street Businesses Online – Content, Retention & Sustainable Growth
- 9.30am – 10.30am Monday 9th February (Online) – Book Here
- 1.00pm – 2.00pm Monday 2nd March (Online) – Book Here
- 5.30pm – 6.30pm Monday 16th March (Online) – Book Here
Contact Us
Should you have any questions about the Programme, please contact us using the following details:
- Email: business.support@eastriding.gov.uk
- Phone: 01482 391622