Empty shop grants of up to £5,000 offered in Oswestry

Empty shop grants of up to £5,000 are now open to businesses willing to move into long-vacant town centre premises in Oswestry. They are one of several local schemes trying to fill gaps on the UK high street in 2026. There is no single national payment, so what you can claim depends on where the shop is and what kind of business you run.

The Oswestry offer was reported by the BBC. Other support is running in Rotherham and, for hospitality businesses, through a government fund. This article sets out what each scheme pays for, who is excluded and what to do before you apply.

Empty shop grants: the change in plain English

Oswestry Town Council is urging entrepreneurs and established businesses to take on premises that have stood empty for more than six months, according to the BBC. Funding is available to help cover the costs of transforming them, up to £5,000 per grant. The scheme is called Breathing New Life into Empty Properties.

The money can go towards refurbishment work, decoration, signage, branding and accessibility upgrades. It is open to new owners and occupiers moving into vacant town centre properties. It cannot be claimed by landlords or by tenants who were in place when the building became empty, which keeps it aimed at genuinely new arrivals.

Mayor of Oswestry, Cllr Jonathan Upton, said there was still funding available. He told the BBC: “There’s still funding available and we would love to see it put to good use.” He added: “We want to ensure that any vacant property becomes an opportunity for ambitious local businesses.” Applications remain open until 23:59 GMT on 31 December.

Vacant retail property funding elsewhere

Oswestry is not alone. Local business news site Rothbiz reports that Rotherham Council’s Shopfront Grants scheme has secured a further year of funding for 2026/27 through the Local Growth Fund, worth around £600,000. The oversubscribed scheme has already helped around 50 businesses improve the appearance of their premises. Its latest round has one strand for existing businesses and one to bring empty units back into use, and empty shops get priority, then external works, then internal works.

Separately, a £10 million Hospitality Grant Scheme for independent pubs, restaurants and cafés was announced by the government on 2 September 2026, according to the guide published by bizbritain. It runs for three years, and applications are being received from the end of September 2026. One of its three purposes is bringing a vacant building back into use as a hospitality business.

Who gains, and who does not

The clearest winners are new occupiers. A firm moving into a shop that has been dark for six months or more in Oswestry can get help with the fit-out costs that often put people off. The restrictions are just as clear: landlords and the tenants who were there when the unit emptied are shut out, so the grant is directed at new arrivals rather than the property’s existing owner or occupier.

In Rotherham, the council has also deployed three high street advisers. Cllr John Williams, the Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, said they will be “a single point of contact for our high streets across the borough”. The advisers will cover Maltby, Dinnington, Swinton, Wath and Rotherham town centre. Priority sites for the grants also include Parkgate and Rawmarsh, Thurcroft and Dalton, though applications elsewhere will be considered case by case.

The sources do not say how Oswestry’s pot is funded or how large it is. For hospitality, the government says pubs, clubs and live music venues get a 20% cut to business rates bills from next April, which it estimates saves a typical pub about £1,000. According to bizbritain, that cut applies in England.

A worked example

These figures are illustrations of how the published limits work, not real applications. Suppose a new café owner in Oswestry plans £7,500 of work on a unit empty for eight months, covering decoration, a new sign and a ramp. The grant could pay no more than £5,000, leaving at least £2,500 to find from savings or borrowing. A claim also depends on the council approving the costs, which the BBC report does not detail.

In Rotherham, an existing shop planning a £14,000 frontage could apply for up to £10,000. Rothbiz reports that entrepreneurs fund anything above that level, so the owner would cover the remaining £4,000. For the pub rates cut, a 20% reduction worth £1,000 implies a bill of about £5,000 before the change. That sum is our arithmetic from the government’s estimate, not a published figure.

What to do now

First, check whether the property qualifies. In Oswestry it must have been empty for more than six months, and you must be a new owner or occupier. Contact the town council before signing a lease or starting work, because the sources do not say whether costs incurred earlier can be claimed. Keep the 31 December deadline in mind.

Second, price the whole project, then work out which part a grant could cover. Bizbritain warns that grants pay on the funder’s timetable rather than yours, and that trades, suppliers and deposits usually want paying first. Its guide notes that the government has not published a maximum grant for the hospitality fund, so be wary of any figure quoted elsewhere. Read the guidance on the government’s grants site before building a plan around a number.

Third, ask your own council. Rotherham shows that schemes can be run through advisers and local funds rather than a national portal, so a call to your economic development team may turn up help that is not widely advertised.

Your questions answered

Is there a national £5,000 grant for empty shops?

Not according to the sources. The £5,000 figure comes from Oswestry Town Council’s own scheme, as reported by the BBC. The government’s £10m Hospitality Grant Scheme has no published maximum grant, and Rotherham’s schemes are run by the borough.

Can a landlord apply in Oswestry?

No. The BBC reports that the grant cannot be claimed by landlords or by tenants who were in place when a building became empty. It is open only to new owners and occupiers moving into vacant town centre premises.

Will a grant cover the whole cost of opening in an empty unit?

Probably not. Bizbritain says a share of the £10m hospitality fund is unlikely to reach a whole bill. Oswestry’s grants are capped at £5,000 and Rotherham’s existing-business strand at £10,000, with the applicant paying the rest.

Has London done anything similar?

The Mayor’s office told the London Assembly in May 2023 that a £4m Challenge Fund had helped develop local partnerships in every borough, with 22 receiving funding. The aim was to put underused high street properties to new uses. That answer is more than three years old and is not a current grant for individual shops.