OUR Love Local Business campaign has got off to a flying start.

The Chronicle has teamed up with the city council and Winchester BID to launch the initiative in print, online and on social media, giving extensive coverage and exposure to our brilliant local business communities.

And inside this supplement you will find details of many of them.

Chronicle Editor, Bill Browne said: "The pandemic has changed life for everyone and had a huge impact on our towns, cities and high streets.

“But we said at the very start there is still a real buzz around Winchester and how right we were.

"It might have been the distant buzz that you hear inside a honeycomb, but sure enough at the heart of the city there is activity that would make any worker proud.

"Our readers and traders have been telling us about the real spirit of Winchester, how people are working with each other to keep the local economy turning.

"We thank them for sharing their stories and encourage others to keep the tales of great endeavour coming.”

Bill added: “We have learned a great deal in the past year, not least that working together is absolutely vital.

“So much can be achieved through collaboration and supporting and promoting business in these incredibly tough and challenging times.

“Businesses across Winchester are the lifeblood of their communities and the city’s economy. We all have a stake in their success.

As we look towards lockdown restrictions being lifted once and for all, it is more important than ever to support our business communities, great retailers and superb hospitality venues, right across Winchester district."

A special online picture gallery will be launching on the Chronicle website Monday.

And we will continue to publish stories, profiles, news and information each week highlight all aspects of great local businesses, high streets and shopping centres.

For all businesses, there will be a ‘Star Prize’ draw with winner receiving an ecommerce website and a four month marketing package provided by Winchester City Council and LOCALiQ, the digital marketing arm of Newsquest, publisher of the Chronicle.

Many businesses across all sectors have worked tirelessly to deal with all the challenges thrown at the them by the pandemic.

For example many have stepped up their digital presence, pivoted towards e-commerce and are now trading successfully both online and on the high street.

Executive director of Winchester BID, Paul Spencer, said the Love Local initiative was very welcome.

“Anything we can do together to make as much noise as possible about our city’s fantastic business has to be good thing. This kind of partnership working is the way forward.”

How readers can get involved

We are running a weekly competition for six weeks for readers to win £25 cash to spend supporting their local businesses.

All you have to do is send us a picture of them Loving Local businesses for a chance to win – click and collect, takeaways, home delivery, favourite coffee shop take away or using e-commerce from their favourite store.