A DAY IN PICKERING

We recently visited Pickering to photograph businesses for their new website – we had a great time talking to all the ...

MAGIC TENNER IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

THE TOTALLY LOCALLY MAGIC TENNER COMES TO NORTH YORKSHIRE Four North Yorkshire towns join forces for first-ever county-wide Magic Tenner campaign ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY KNARESBOROUGH’S FIRST STEPS

It’s only been a couple of months since we first introduced Totally Locally to Knaresborough’s business community, but in that short ...

STARTING OUR JOURNEY TO HELP MARKET TOWNS IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

We have been working behind the scenes on a plan to harness the power of North Yorkshire businesses and communities to ...

HELPING SHAPE A NEW HIGH STREETS FUND IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

We recently had the real privilege of accompanying David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire around Thirsk, visiting some of ...

WE’RE ONE OF THE WINNERS OF THE OCTOPUS ENTREPENEURS AWARDS!

Incredible visit to Octopus HQ to celebrate our win in the 2024 Springboard Entrepreneurs Award for Totally Locally!

GUEST BLOG – It’s Not The Internet – It’s You! by Dan Thompson

by Dan Thompson In the first of a series of Guest Blogs, our good friend, writer, artist and visionary Dan Thompson ...

LETS CELEBRATE TOWNS JUDGING AT HOUSE OF LORDS WESTMINSTER

We were honoured to help judge and then be invited to the Let’s Celebrate Towns event held at the amazing House ...

ON THE ROAD IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

Last week we took to the road for some Totally Locally work in Richmond , North Yorkshire followed by a return ...

WIN £15,000 FOR YOUR TOWN – LETS CELEBRATE TOWNS 2024 AWARDS

We at Totally Locally are proud to be part of the judging panel for Visa’s Let’s Celebrate Towns Awards, in conjunction ...

INVIGORATING COMMUNITIES, COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS AND GOVERNMENT TOGETHER

This week we had the immense privilege of speaking at the Leeds Building Society beautifully designed HQ to delegates from over ...

FIGHTING THE CORPORATE STRANGLEHOLD

Recently some large corporations have been hitting the headlines for all the wrong reasons again. Etsy and now Amazon have out ...

KEEPING CASH ON THE HIGH STREET

We are hearing from many places about banks’ disappearance in many small towns. It’s something we’ve been looking into, and as ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY IN BRAZIL

We at Totally Locally are really excited to announce that we have been working behind the scenes with some amazing people ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY LAUNCHED IN DINNINGTON – STRAIGHT INTO NUMBER 10

One of the latest towns to go Totally Locally is Dinnington in South Yorkshire. Volunteers from the newly form team manned ...

WORKING WITH RIPON BID

As part of our Totally Locally commissioned work we recently visited Ripon in North Yorkshire to work alongside Ripon BID to ...

MORE SUPPORT FOR INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES THIS CHRISTMAS

A new study has shown that almost half of Brits (42%) have vowed to shop at small or independent businesses this ...

THE FIVER FEST EFFECT – NOW BACKED UP WITH DATA

The hard-working team in Clay Cross have really taken Totally Locally to heart and run increasingly popular Fiver Fests in their ...

CHRIS WAS INTERVIEWED BY NICE PEOPLE FOR A NICE ARTICLE

Here’s a smashing article about the history of Totally Locally to celebrate the launch of our new book and our look ...

BUSINESS NEWS WALES INTERVIEW WITH EMMA CORFIELD-WALTERS

Here’s a great interview with Emma, as well her shop Book-ish being named as the UK’s best independent bookshop, starting loads ...

MAGIC TENNER CAMPAIGN IN BRIDPORT

The Totally Locally team in Bridport have launched a Magic Tenner campaign and have been inundated with businesses wanting to join ...

OUR FIRST BOOK – THE ECONOMICS OF BEING NICE

The Totally Locally book “The Economics of Being Nice” has launched! It’s been a labour of love, but well worth it ...

FIVER FEST MARCH 2022 ROUND-UP

The first National Fiver Fest in 2022 was a cracker! We are again bowled over by the enthusiasm, creativity and sheer ...

FIVER FEST MAPS

Amongst the many creative things towns do for Fiver Fest, one of our favourites is a Fiver Fest Map, possibly done ...

OUR FIRST FIVER FEST AWARDS – THE FIVIES!

Since Fiver Fest went national, we have been blown away by all the inventive offers and creative displays to promote them ...

DELIVERING ESSENTIALS BY CARGOBIKE IN HALIFAX

Here at Totally Locally HQ we’re always helping others to collaborate so we thought we practice what we preach! As part ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY SHOP LAUNCH

We’ve set up a lovely shop on our website as we’ve started to do a bit of merchandise, items in our ...

JUNE NATIONAL FIVER FEST HITS OVER 100 TOWNS

After emerging from lockdowns, there was always going to be uncertainty over running events but we are thrilled to announce that ...

PODCAST WITH EMMA CORFIELD-WALTERS OF BOOK-ISH IN CRICKHOWELL

Chris talks to Emma Corfield-Walters, owner of Book-ish, The UK’s Independent Bookshop of the Year 2020/21 & the instigator of Totally ...

MORE RE-OPENING OF THE HIGH STREET POSTERS FOR YOU!

A set of posters to help your business when opening after the second lockdown. Download below. You can download, print and ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY JOINS ROUND-TABLE WITH SHADOW CHANCELLOR

Totally Locally was invited to a round-table discussion hosted by Anneliese Dodds, Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer along with business owners ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY ON THE INDEPENDENT 2021 HAPPY LIST

  You can see the Happy List 2021 –  HERE>>.   Full text: Marketing expert Chris Sands developed Totally Locally, a ...

NEW MAP FOR LEIGH-ON-SEA

We love collaboration and this is a particularly nice one! Totally Locally Leigh-On-Sea is part of the Leigh-on-Sea Partnership Group (LPG), ...

BETWEEN THE LINES – A PODCAST WITH TIM HAIDAR

Chris had a nice chat with Tim Haïdar from GS1 UK (barcode and logistics support company) as part of their “Between ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY NAMED IN BIG ISSUE’S 100 2021 CHANGEMAKERS – COVID HEROES

We are thrilled that Totally Locally has been named as one of the UK’s Top 100 Changemakers for 2021. Such an ...

HANG ON IN THERE…..

We did a poster. Not for anything other than to say we’ll get through this together. We sincerely believe this. It’s ...

HIGH STREETS ONLINE FEATURED ON NATIONAL NEWS

We were featured on BBC Breakfast & BBC News all about our pilot .Shop website for Hebden Bridge and how it ...

INSTAGRAM LIVE WITH TRIANGLE BAKEHOUSE

Chris talks to Aaron and Vic of artisan bakery Triangle Bakehouse in Ripponden, West Yorkshire about how they started, their ethos, ...

OUR FIRST INSTAGRAM LIVE WITH BURNTISLAND

Our Chris had a nice chat with Yvonne from Totally Locally Burntisland about their local campaign, Fiver Fest etc. Yvonne explains ...

HEBDEN BRIDGE LAUNCHES PILOT HIGH STREETS ONLINE SITE

Our first site from our High Streets Online initiative launched in Hebden Bridge and has been warmly received by local businesses ...

THE FUTURE OF HIGH STREETS & HOW WE CAN ALL PLAY A PART

Over the last few months I’ve read lot of predictions for the high street. There are many different theories of what ...

RE-OPENING OF THE HIGH STREET POSTER SET FOR SHOPS & BUSINESSES

A set of posters to help your business when opening after the lockdown. Download below.

SHOP LIKE YOUR HIGH STREET DEPENDS ON IT – POSTER

2 POSTERS TO DOWNLOAD & PRINT The green one lets you add your shop name and web address / social media. ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY ON BBC NATIONAL NEWS

Totally Locally, Chris Sands & Leek featured on BBC1 national News. It compares Doncaster Council who spent £50 million on the ...

A TOTALLY LOCALLY TALE OF COLLABORATION FROM WYMONDHAM

Here’s a short tale from one of our latest Totally Locally towns, Wymondham. The organisers of Totally Locally Wymondham are based ...

BURNTISLAND ON SCOTTISH TV FOR FIVER FEST

Scottish TV visited Burntisland for the day to chat to business owners and locals about their part in the latest National ...

FIVER FEST FEBRUARY REACHES 100 TOWNS!

100 TOWNS ARE JOINING IN – POSSIBLY THE BIGGEST GRASS-ROOTS HIGH STREET INITIATIVE EVER RUN! HOW GOOD IS THAT?! Fiver Fest ...

FIRST TOTALLY LOCALLY PODCAST!

I spent some time chatting with my friend Amy Harbour, who was one of the very first people to take Totally ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY NEWARK

The folks in Newark are going great-guns! They formed a CIC to make it a bit more official and raise funds ...

OUR FIRST NATIONAL FIVER FEST

Fiver Fest is an integral part of our Town Kit campaign – once a town has been told about the impact ...

CHORLEY FIVER DESIGN COMPETITION

If it’s one thing that Totally Locally towns love, it’s having their own Fiver designed to use in their Fiver Fests ...

THE BOOKSHOP MANIFESTO

We are chuffed to announce our Independent Bookshop Manifesto.

THE TOTALLY LOCALLY TIMES

The Totally Locally Time template is part of the Town Kit. It’s been used by a few towns, but Totally Locally ...

LITTLE THINGS YOU CAN DO

LITTLE THINGS YOU CAN DO….  AS A BUSINESS  We’ve found that Independent Businesses, on average, use about 8 local suppliers. When ...

CRICKHOWELL ON BBC BREAKFAST

Emma from Totally Locally Crickhowell was interviewed this week on the BBC Breakfast Show about winning High Street of the Year ...

EVERYONE LOVES A STAMP!

One thing we hadn’t really considered being part of the Town Kit until we saw a couple of towns had made ...

THIS JUST MADE US LAUGH A LOT! IF HIGH STREET SHOPPING WAS LIKE ONLINE….

THE TOTALLY LOCALLY BUILDING SOCIETY ACCOUNT!

Leek United Building Society have launched a special savings account to help raise awareness of supporting independent businesses. Every pound saved ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY TEDDINGTON BAGS TRAVEL THE WORLD

Those industrious folks in Teddington had some useful and lovely Totally Locally shopping bags made with a local-themed nice design from ...

GERALDINE WEARABLE LIGHTS PARADE

Another great event from our friends in Australia, the Totally Locally Wearable Lights Competition! The fabulous Geraldine Lights Festival hosted this ...

GERALDINE EASTER BUNNY TRAIL

One of the reasons it’s good to have a Totally Locally campaign in your town is that for pretty much any ...

SMALL ACTIONS MAKE BIG NUMBERS FOR THE UK ECONOMY

….. and my maths mistake! Totally Locally is a campaign run in many towns across the UK and around the world ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY LAUNCHES IN WEST KILBRIDE

Say hi to the latest town in the Totally Locally Family, West Kilbride in North Ayrshire, Scotland! There was a growing ...

A TOTALLY LOCALLY BUSINESS STORY

We often get asked ‘”hat is Totally Locally about, what do you do?” Coincidentally we have had this sent through from ...

THE TOWN THAT TOOK ON THE TAXMAN

Totally Locally was approached by a production company asking if we knew of any towns that might be interested in a ...

LETS TALK ABOUT PARKING….. OR NOT!

Parking, it’s a big thing – we can all agree on that. You can pretty much guarantee that when we go to ...

TALE OF A TENNER – SPENDING LOCALLY & HOW THE MONEY GOES ROUND

The Tale of the Magic Tenner. An amazing little film shot in Hebden Bridge, in Calderdale where Totally Locally HQ lives. ...

THIS KIT WON’T FIX YOUR TOWN…. BUT YOU CAN

What Totally Locally Is – And What It Isn’t! Deeeeeep Breath……. It’s a Toolkit not a magic wand It’s not a ...

TOTALLY SOCIALLY IN SCARBOROUGH

Here’s the story of how Totally Socially came to be in Scarborough. The Yorkshire Coast Social Enterprise brings together enterprises that ...

THE TOTALLY LOCALLY LEEK FIVE POUND BURGER

In Leek, you can find the fabled Totally Locally Burger – yes they really went and done it! It of course ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY TICKHILL LAUNCH

Another Totally Locally town has launched, Tickhill. The campaign got the go-ahead to launch at the Tickhill Grand Prix along with ...

BROSELEY BAGS CONQUER THE WORLD

Not content with their record-breaking bag photoshoot, the folks in Broseley set themselves challenge: just how far can a Totally Locally ...

THE LEEK SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT

A chat with the Totally Locally people of Leek in Staffs. during their award-winning Totally Locally Sunday Supplement. A grassroots, voluntary ...

CHRIS RECEIVES AN HONORARY DEGREE

In July 2015, Chris was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Staffordshire University. You could have knocked him down with a feather ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY COMMENDED IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STATE PARLIAMENT

The Launch of Totally Locally in Blackwood, South Australia was a huge success, so much so that their local MP, Sam ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY SHIPSTON-ON-STOUR

If there has been a town that has fully embraced Totally Locally and every single bit of the Town Kit then ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY’S FIRST FRENCH TOWN

Totally Locally has gone all-French! After hearing about Totally Locally, a lovely team in Villaines-la-Juhel in the Pays De La Loire ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY CHRIS IN AUSTRALIA

As Totally Locally takes off more in Australia, I’m working in South Australia with towns and groups on loads of different ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY CRICKHOWELL FIGHTS SUPERMARKET PLANS

UPDATE: Good news! The local group raised enough cash to purchase and renovate the building which now houses even more local ...

BROSELEY BAG RECORD

Totally Locally towns don’t generally do things by halves and the Broseley gang are no exception!

LOVE YOUR TOWN

One of the things we see with towns that go Totally Locally is a noticeable increase in pride in the town. ...

THE SUNDAY SUPPLEMENT

The Sunday Supplement – what is it? Is it a market? Yes. Is it an event? Yes. Is it an extra ...

THE ECONOMICS OF BEING NICE

(Original article in The Scarborough Comet) It’s always hard to explain the concept of Totally Locally, as there are so many ...

WHAT IF THEY BUILT A SUPERMARKET AND NOBODY CAME?

There are so many anti supermarket campaigns at the moment and it made me think. If the supermarket isn’t profitable shareholders ...

A TOURIST IN MY OWN TOWN

One of the things we say with Totally Locally is be a tourist in your own town. And I have to ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY AUSTRALIA TRIP – A SUMMARY BY CHRIS

I’m back in England, after what was a crazy time talking Totally Locally in Australia & visiting in New Zealand, I ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY VERSUS THE SUPERMARKETS

The Question Totally Locally Chris did a recent radio interview in which he was asked, and I paraphrase, What about the ...

THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

So here we are going to discuss the one thing that no one really seems to want to discuss when it ...

DID YOU KNOW….?

A nice little poster for you to write some great stuff about you or your business. From what’s produced locally, to ...

CRICKHOWELL CHRISTMAS MARKET

A hugely popular Christmas Market takes place each year in Crickhowell, organised by Totally Locally Crickhowell. This year lots of community ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY STUDY AND GRADUATE

Charnelle Merritt has become the first Totally Locally graduate! Charnelle (pictured here with Professor Jon Fairburn) was key to implementing Totally ...

CREATIVITY AND PASSION IN MALTON AND NORTON

The folks in Malton and Norton in North Yorkshire are a creative and passionate bunch. Since launching Totally Locally they have ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY BROSELEY LAUNCH

The latest Totally Locally town to launch is the Shropshire market of Broseley. To start with a bang, the volunteer team ...

VIDEO EXPLAINER FROM NEWARK

Check out this great video made by the team in Newark, these are our core messages all made into a fantastic ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY TEDDINGTON WORLD CUP

It seemed as though everyone in the town pitched in to help, with organising, catering, venues, football equipment, printing, photography and ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY SCARBOROUGH FAYRE

Totally Locally Scarborough hosted this ace fayre that was all about how to have your perfect wedding, party or reception using ...

TEDDINGTON’S AMAZING APRIL DRAW

Here’s a nice idea from Totally Locally Teddington, a raffle draw designed to remind locals to shop more in their local ...

THE CRICKHOWELL TENNER TRAIL

Totally Locally Crickhowell wanted to go one step further than a Fiver Fest and have a similar celebration of what the ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY LAUNCHES IN SALTAIRE

Saltaire is close to our hearts at Totally Locally HQ, it’s just up the road from where we started our campaign ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY BUNGENDORE LAUNCHES IN AUSTRALIA

Another Totally Locally town has popped up in Australia! After Jennie heard Chris talk in Melbourne she took his ‘just do ...

A WONDERFUL POEM ABOUT TOTALLY LOCALLY

Whilst in Adelaide Chris went for a drink after a long day at the Place Leaders conference where he was talking. ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY PRESENTATION IN FINLAND

Well this is a bit crazy! Students at TAMK University in Finland have been hearing all about Totally Locally in a ...

ANDOVER GOES TOTALLY LOCALLY FOR A £9M BOOST

The latest town to go Totally Locally is Andover in Hampshire! The local team kicked off the campaign with a Festive ...

WEST BRIDGFORD TOTALLY LOCALLY POP-UP SHOP!

Opened by the Mayor, this Totally Locally West Bridgford ‘mini department store’ opened just in time for Christmas Shopping. All participating ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY PRESTATYN HITTING ALL THE CHANNELS

The team in Prestatyn are an industrious bunch and know the value of a publicity, pulling all the right strings to ...

VALLEY OF LIGHTS – FLOOD RELIEF PROJECT

  An Award Winning Project by the Totally Locally team. VALLEY OF LIGHTS – WINNER OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT APSE Award ...

TOTALLY LOCALLY RETFORD CREATES A BUZZ

There was huge excitement for the Totally Locally launch in Retford, Nottinghamshire! There was a big buzz in the town, with ...

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS….

The Totally Locally Leek Guys have put these banners together to help support shops affected by huge roadworks

LAUNCH OF THE TOTALLY LOCALLY CAFE

We are always preaching about using local suppliers and getting everything as close to home as possible, so we thought it ...

THE TOTALLY LOCALLY AWARDS

One day we had the idea to host a big award ceremony. Why the heck not – we liked the idea ...

RELENTLESSLY POSITIVE – OUR BIGGEST EVER COMPLIMENT!

Chris was interviewed by The Yorkshire Post about reviving the Great British High Street, with all the news of Mary Portas ...