Get involved in SummerFest Hamilton, see the latest footfall updates, and find out about upcoming opportunities.

May Business Update

There is a lot coming up in Hamilton over the next few months, with SummerFest Hamilton, our Scotland Loves Local event, radio promotion opportunities, positive footfall updates and recent recognition for Hamilton Our Town.

Here’s how your business can get involved.

SummerFest Hamilton returns this July

SummerFest Hamilton will run from Saturday 4 July to Saturday 1 August, bringing together a month of activity, events, family fun and town centre promotion.

We are now inviting local businesses, community groups and partners to get involved by listing any activities, offers, workshops, events or experiences taking place during the SummerFest period. This could include a themed menu, family activity, live music, workshop, demonstration, special offer, open day, competition, in-store event or anything else that gives people another reason to visit Hamilton this summer.

The aim is to build one strong town-wide programme that showcases what is happening across Hamilton throughout July.

To list your activity as part of SummerFest Hamilton, please complete our short form here:
https://forms.gle/zcebuxqHnbgSKLoc6

Feature in our Go Radio campaign

As part of SummerFest, we are also planning a Go Radio campaign across July, helping to promote Hamilton and the wider SummerFest programme to a large regional audience.

There will be an opportunity for businesses to feature in the campaign by donating a prize with a perceived value of around £250.

Prizes should be:

• Accessible and easy for the winner to redeem
• Family-friendly
• Suitable for a broad audience
• Linked to your business in a positive and promotional way

This could be a voucher, experience, meal, treatment, hamper, family package, activity or another strong prize that helps showcase what your business offers.

Businesses interested in providing a prize should contact us as soon as possible by emailing info@hamiltonbid.org

Positive footfall update for Hamilton town centre

The latest footfall data shows some encouraging signs for Hamilton town centre.

Estimated footfall for March 2026 was up 2.0% compared with March 2025, with around 12,257 additional visits across the wider town centre. March also performed strongly compared with February 2026, with an estimated 94,428 additional visits, representing a 17.3% increase.

Year to date, Hamilton BID area is broadly stable and slightly ahead of the same point last year. We are also seeing particularly strong performance in key areas, with the Quarry Street zone estimated to be up around 20% year to date compared with last year so far.

While footfall data is always an estimate, the latest figures show positive movement and reinforce the importance of continued promotion, events, access improvements and activity across the town centre.

Christmas Light Switch-On footfall impact

We have now received the detailed footfall report for the Hamilton Christmas Light Switch-On 2025, and it shows a strong positive impact across the wider town centre BID area.

Compared with the previous comparable Saturday, the whole BID area recorded an estimated 4,403 additional visits, representing a 23% increase. The data also shows the event performed particularly strongly as a local community draw, with 59% of visitors coming from within three miles of Hamilton.

The Christmas Light Switch-On was the second busiest event recorded in the town centre, behind only Lanarkshire Pride, which remains the highest-footfall event in the area. This reinforces the value of well-promoted community events in bringing people into Hamilton and supporting wider town centre activity.

Lanarkshire Pride returns to Hamilton on Saturday 1 August, and local businesses are encouraged to get involved. To find out more, email info@lanarkshirepride.co.uk.

Scotland Loves Local event – Saturday 6 June

Our next Scotland Loves Local event will take place on Saturday 6 June, in the Regent Centre, celebrating local businesses, local shopping and the importance of supporting Hamilton town centre ahead of Scotland loves local week and the World Cup!

There are opportunities for businesses to get involved by taking a stall, promoting an offer or being part of the wider campaign activity. 

We are also looking for businesses who would be happy to feature in PR and promotional activity linked to the Scotland Loves Local campaign. This is a great opportunity to highlight the people, products and stories behind Hamilton’s local businesses. The Scotland loves local photographer will be along at 10am on Friday 29th May…

To take part, or to find out more, please email info@hamiltonbid.org

British BIDs Accreditation

We are pleased to share that Hamilton Our Town has received accreditation from British BIDs.

This is an important milestone and means we are one of the first BIDs in Scotland to achieve this industry-recognised accreditation. It reflects the hard work, commitment behind delivery within the organisation particularly during a challenging period.

This follows further recognition last year, when our manager received the Scotland Loves Local Hero Award for Central Scotland, highlighting the continued work being done to promote and support Hamilton town centre.

You can read more about the British BIDs Accreditation on our website:
https://hamiltonourtown.co.uk/hamilton-our-town-bid-achieves-national-accreditation-standard/

Suspicious email alert

We have been made aware of a suspicious email using the Hamilton Business Improvement District name and impersonating Malcolm Thomas-Harley – sent from an unrelated outlook account.

To be clear, this email has not been sent from Malcolm’s email address or from any official Hamilton Our Town email address. It has been sent from an unrelated Outlook email address and asks whether the recipient is “in the office at the moment”.

Please do not reply, click on any links, or provide any information.

Hamilton Our Town will only contact businesses from our official email addresses.

Thank you

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.

Our focus remains on promoting Hamilton town centre, increasing positive visibility, supporting local businesses and delivering activity that gives people more reasons to visit.

Hamilton Our Town