The Galleries shopping centre win national recognition for summer campaign

We are delighted to have won national recognition for our six week summer campaign, Strawberry Square, which took place during July and August 2018. The centre was presented with a Purple Apple award at a glamorous ceremony in London last week, which was hosted by dance group Destiny and attended by industry professionals from around the country.

The inspiration for the campaign came from a desire to attract more people to the shopping centre during the summer holiday season and featured daily events and activities including a Strawberry Trail which enjoyed over 1000 participants. The public were also invited to plant their own strawberry plant in Strawberry Square while weekend events included music and food festivals with face painting and craft events, all geared towards entertaining local families.

The Galleries succeeded in beating off the competition to win the award including numerous large shopping centres from around the country. The judges praised Strawberry Square for being ‘fun and engaging’ and a ‘great family themed activity’.

Simon Tucker, centre manager said: “We’re thrilled to have won this award. It was a terrific event, hugely popular and delivered on a minimal budget owing to the unrelenting support of the shopping centre team and the former centre manager Victoria Nichol who was the mastermind!

“The success of Strawberry Square was the inspiration for this year’s event campaign, Saturday Takeover, which sees us host an event every weekend. We’re working hard to deliver a robust schedule of activities in The Galleries to add value and encourage people to visit the town centre.”

Becca Heron, director for economy and skills at Wigan Council said: “It’s fantastic that the hard work of The Galleries in hosting engaging and interactive events for local people and families has been recognised in this way. This award is very much deserved.

“We understand that our town centres are much more social spaces than ever before, so we support both the Strawberry Square and Saturday Takeover campaigns as they help to attract visitors to the shopping centre and the town.

“We will continue to work closely with The Galleries to host more events in the future, including the popular Food Fest on the Square, which will return to the market square this Saturday 18th May.”