Including Ramp Revamp & K-Town Shopper
Projects that celebrate Keighley’s Urban Heritage & Regenerate our High Streets
Keighley Creative has developed this body of work with creative producers Gemma Hobbs and Aimee Grundell, graphic designer Lee Goater, and a host of other local creative people.
Where did the idea come from?
Back in 2021 as a part of Summer Unlocked, we ran an urban intervention project to reinvigorate an underused and overlooked central location in Keighley, known as the Ramp. Together with local graffiti and street artists, and the residents and businesses in town, we created a large scale mural after conversations with the people who used the space, many of them also often overlooked by society.
We also ran the Pillars of our Community project, a joint digital and in person campaign to find out about some of our community heroes, and celebrate them. The whole project was so well received, and it got people talking about the place art has in regenerating the town, and encouraging more footfall into Keighley for shopping and leisure.
The reaction to Ramp Revamp, was incredible. It got people talking about the best way to breathe new life into neglected town spaces, and it’s great to see people snapping photos under the Ramp and spending time there on their lunch breaks. One thing that was clear from people’s feedback was that they wanted Ramp Revamp to be the start of something big for Keighley – which is where our ideas started to grow from.
Street Creativity, for Everyone to Enjoy
People often talk to us about Keighley’s “hey day”. A time when any given weekend was a hive of activity with groups of teenagers queuing to use the photo booth in Boots, families browsing the latest releases in Blockbusters on Cavendish Street and little ones nagging for pick and mix in Woolies. So we decided to bring those days back in a toungue-in-cheek and forward thinking way.
We worked with 40 local creative people and the production team to turn their ideas into professional pieces inspired by the nostalgia of Keighley’s Shopping Heritage.
From photographers to graphic designers, light projectionists to dancers, we wanted submissions that highlighted just how many talented people there are in Keighley.
And on the big weekend our interactive, alternative department store make visitors feel like they’d stepped back to a time when a trip into town was the only way to spend a Saturday! We’re talking places to grab a bite to eat, nostalgic decor, spots to hang out and snap photos with your mates and of course a whole host of brilliant bargains from local independent retailers.
Putting Local Business Front & Centre
As well as being a great day out in its own right, the major aim of K-Town Shopper was to highlight all the amazing independent shops that there are to discover in Keighley, and over the two days we had over 2000 people come and join in and buy lovely things, as well as have a fab time. It couldn’t have worked better!
A free listings newspaper was circulated about local, independent businesses, with a map of the arts trail in it, made readily available over the weekend. So K-Town Shopper was all about celebrating Keighley’s beloved shopping past whilst shining a light on the fantastic businesses that exist today.