Allwyn UK spotlights six independent retailers

Allwyn UK has placed billboards featuring six independent stores in Belfast, Bristol, Manchester, Ilkeston, Gateshead and Glasgow as part of its Local Retail Champions initiative.

Celebrating Community Fundraisers

The rollout aims to highlight the role of small shops in contributing more than £10 billion to National Lottery Good Causes since the scheme began.

The company funded the effort after selecting six outlets that each raised over a million pounds by selling lottery tickets and scratchcards.

The featured businesses are Julie Campbell of Sinclair’s Newsagent in Belfast, Pinku Patel from Causeway Card Shop & Newsagents in Bristol, Aftab Bhatti of Dynasty News in Glasgow, Priti Patel of John’s News in Ilkeston, Umar Nasir at The Paper Shop in Manchester and Phil Lawrence, co-owner of Choices Newsagent in Gateshead.

Julie Campbell’s family has run Sinclair’s Newsagent for 26 years, and her shop helped raise more than £1.2 million for Good Causes. She highlighted local projects such as Templemore Baths as clear examples of how lottery funding benefits neighbourhoods.

Pinku Patel remarked that ticket sales in his Bristol shop have generated over £1.5 million, supporting venues and community projects throughout the city.

Alastair Ruxton, chief impact officer at Allwyn UK, said: “Local Retail Champions is about putting the people behind that contribution centre stage and showing the impact independent retailers help make possible in communities across the UK. “We want independent retailers to feel proud of the role they play in raising much-needed funding for National Lottery Good Causes and for their communities to recognise it too.”

The Local Retail Champions roll-out followed a prior launch that included short films with retailers in Kent, Wales and West Yorkshire.

The firm also mailed letters to more than 22,000 independent outlets, thanking each for its contribution to the lottery programme.

Data show that 1,623 shops have raised over £500 k, 469 have exceeded the million-pound mark, and 28 have passed the £2 million threshold, with two locations surpassing £3 million. On average, 23p of every pound spent on the National Lottery supports Good Causes, funding more than 680,000 projects in arts, community, heritage and sport since its launch in 1994.