How Epsom's businesses came together to fund their own high street

Some of what happens in Epsom town centre, from its events to its seasonal decorations, is paid for by the businesses on its streets. At the end of 2017 they voted to pay towards their own high street, through a partnership known locally as Go Epsom. A second vote renewed it for 2023 to 2028, so they've now said yes twice.

What they signed up to

Officially, Go Epsom is a business improvement district, and it works to the same few rules as every other one. Businesses in a set area pay a small extra charge on top of their business rates. That money is ring-fenced: it can only be spent inside the area, on a plan the businesses themselves voted for.

Why not leave it to the council?

A council can spend money on a town centre too, but its budget answers to wider priorities and can be moved elsewhere. Go Epsom's money can't, because the businesses paying in decide what it's for. That makes a partnership like this slow to start, since it needs a vote, and hard to quietly shelve once it exists. The council is about to change as well, with East Surrey Council taking over from April 2027.

Who pays in

The shops and cafés of the town centre are in it, and so is Epsom Downs Racecourse. So the town's biggest single draw, the home of Derby Day, pays into the same pot as its everyday traders, and they decide together how to spend it.

The council is in it too, in its own way, because it collects the charge. Go Epsom's business plan also says the council and other public bodies pay the charge themselves on the properties, car parks and premises in the area that they pay business rates on.

What the money buys

It buys the things no single shop would pay for on its own: events, shared marketing, seasonal decorations and better public space between the shops. None of it shows up in any one trader's takings, but all of it affects how many people are out on the street, and every shop depends on that. The town's markets are older than Go Epsom, and bring people in by a different route.

Is it fair?

Not evenly, and it was never meant to be. Every business the charge covers pays, whether or not it feels the benefit. A solicitors' office with almost no passing trade pays towards the same Christmas lights as a café that lives on it. A partnership like this only survives if enough businesses accept that. It's the trade-off in every local business network, written into law.

If you run a business in the area, check that your Go Epsom directory listing matches what you say about yourself everywhere else. It's on the checklist on our page for businesses in Surrey and South West London, along with the rest of being found locally.