#WeLoveCrystalPalace and we're letting local residents know who’s open and when...
Over 70 local businesses have signed-up to new interactive map and lockdown listings service for the Crystal Palace area.
The new listings site https://covid19-mylocal.uk/ allows you to plan ahead and browse for: home deliveries of essentials, new click / collect services and support local businesses who are adapting services for socially-distanced trading.
The project has been organised by a volunteer steering group initiated earlier this year to bring together local councillors, lots of different community groups (including Crystal Palace Transition Town, Crystal Palace Food Market, Crystal Palace Festival, Upper Norwood Library Hub), and a growing number of businesses and residents in our local area. The new group, Town Team, was already working towards a directory like this, but the COVID-19 crisis has pushed the idea into an essential rather than a nice-to-have.
Initially it covers home delivery options, distanced deliveries and takeaways. Customers go to covid19-mylocal.uk and they can search for a service, check the map or just browse the listings. The geo-mapping site was created by local resident and web developer Natasa Blagojevic.
“We just felt it was important to offer local people somewhere they could find goods and services, really easily,” said Chris Braime, a locally-based community music leader, who initiated the project, “Our aim is to offer a platform on which services will be kept up-to-date by local traders, so people can try and shop a little more normally and locally. We’re really pleased to have over 70 great businesses and services on board already and we’re expanding the listings daily.”
The new Town Team wants this project to move forward into Covid-free times, as well as helping during the immediate crisis. “Lots of people would rather buy from small local businesses than from Amazon or big supermarkets, no matter how reliable those services are,” says Kate McGhee, member of Town Team and co-founder of SE19Lates Christmas shopping events. “The Town Team vision is to have a plan to support the Crystal Palace community and economy now and when we emerge from lockdown. If anything, this has become even more important, as we face the current uncertainty.”
There are some fantastic community heroes on the site already, like all our local pharmacies, lots of familiar high street favourites including The Crystal Palace Flower Company who are now offering fruit & veg boxes, Crystal Palace Food Market, with their new schedule, many of their regular market traders and Brown & Green who are delivering isolation packs and favourites from their cafe menu to local residents.
We're hoping that more and more businesses and services serving the Crystal Palace area will sign-up and create a profile on covid19-mylocal.uk to keep in touch with customers, provide essentials safely and keep us all updated on what and how they are doing.
Thank you to local artist Matt Bannister for the fab logo!