Best Christmas ever! Shoppers win share of £4,000 to spend in Northampton town centre

The promotion, run by Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District, aims to encourage people to shop locally and gave out £4,000 in total.

One of the latest winners was Samantha Morton, from Wootton in Northampton, who said: “I can’t believe that I have won, it will certainly make Christmas a lot better this year. I will be using the vouchers to treat my husband and our three children – I haven’t told them yet as I want it to be a surprise.”

Another winner, Matt Dartnell, 39, from Kingsthorpe, added: "I couldn't believe it when I received the call - nothing like this ever happens to me. This is fantastic news, especially just before Christmas and I will be using the vouchers to get a few more presents.

"We have also just moved into a new home so this win will really help - my wife is already planning where she would like to spend the vouchers."

Winners were asked to select one high street business to spend £250 of their winnings in independent stores in Northampton.

Independents chosen by the 2016 Golden Ticket winners this year include clothing stores Berties, Montague Jeffery, Styles of London and Voni Blu. Restaurants selected by winners include Sophia’s, Royal Bengal, Sorrentino’s, Jenny’s Restaurant, Haycock and Tailbar and the New Imperial Oriental Restaurant.

Other independents selected include Bonds the Jewellers, Abraxas Cookshop, Royal and Derngate, R&J Hair Design, Shades, Bodification, Northampton Sewing Studio, Dreams Coffee Lounge, Naked Hairdressing, MooreVape, West End DIY, Peppertrees, Rockbottom Discount, Sheep Street Quality Butchers and Jack Haddon.

High Street businesses selected this year included Marks & Spencer, H Samuel, CEX Entertainment Exchange, Argos and Debenhams.

The BID’s Golden Ticket Christmas campaign was organised to encourage people to visit Northampton town centre and to discover and explore the diverse range of businesses in Northampton town centre.

One of the stipulations of Golden Ticket is that all the winners must spend half their winning vouchers in independently owned businesses - shops, boutiques, salons, cafes, restaurants and bars.

Richard Clinton, BID director and operations director at Royal & Derngate, said: “This year some of our Golden Ticket winners chose to spend their winning vouchers with us and we recognise that this is a great way to not only promote our business but to entice more people than ever before into our town centre.

"This is a festive bonus for many of our high street shops, independent retailers and resident businesses.”