High Streets support
High streets are home to thousands of Surrey businesses – and we want them to thrive.
Find support to grow your high street business.
About support for High Street businesses
Surrey has hundreds of high streets across the county, with thousands of small and medium businesses acting as a hub for their communities.
We provide fully-funded support to all high street businesses, which includes resources developed as part of the High Street Growth and Innovation Programme, which ran in spring 2026.
Several areas also have Business Improvement Districts, which are independent business-led organisations.
You also can discover current live available funding opportunities on our Funding and Grants page.
High Street Growth and Innovation Programme
The Surrey High Street Growth and Innovation Programme was a county‑wide initiative funded by our Economic Growth Fund to support independent businesses across the whole of Surrey.
The programme was designed to strengthen independent high street and town centre businesses by offering free, practical, and locally tailored support across Surrey high streets.
Smarter Society and The Retail Group were commissioned to deliver the programme in spring 2026 and provided support including:
- In-person business engagement
- Free practical workshops
- Business toolkits and resources
- Tailored support
Following the completion of the programme, support materials will soon be available to all businesses via our dedicated resources page.
Who is eligible for high streets support?
We provide expert support to any business on a Surrey high street.
This includes:
- Independent retail and service‑based businesses
- Start‑ups and early‑stage ventures
- Pop‑ups and market traders
- Charities, CICs, mutuals and cooperatives
Expert support covering a range of topics will soon be available to download via our dedicated resources page.
If your business is growing quickly, then you may be eligible for high growth support. Simply fill in the Business Support Form to start your journey.
Not sure where to start? Get in touch with our team via the Contact Us page.
Contact us
Business Improvement Districts
Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are communities of individual businesses.
Those in the designated BID zone pay an extra charge in addition to business rates. This allows them to benefit from a wide range of additional services over and above those funded through the standard commercial rates and council services.
Surrey has a number of active BIDs which make a big contribution to their towns.
The areas with active BIDs are:
- Camberley
- Caterham
- Cobham
- Cranleigh
- Dorking
- Epsom
- Farnham
- Godalming
- Guildford
- Leatherhead
- Oxted
- Staines on Thames
- Walton on Thames
- Weybridge
Members of Surrey BIDs are a mixture of retail, hospitality, professional services, education providers, public service providers and service industries. They range in size from start-up micro businesses to multinationals.
BIDs provide employment, goods, services and entertainment for their areas.
They have a keen focus on representing their members in supporting.
They also promote the sustained success and vitality of Surrey’s town centres and their local economies.