What is Kingston Pound trying to do? The answer is it is trying to build a bridge between Businesses and the Community. That is not to say that bridges don’t already exist because they do. It’s just that these bridges originate from one side or the other.
For example, a business group might set up a festival which would attract a lot of visitors. The motivation is usually to sell more stuff and get more custom and there is nothing wrong with that at all. In this case the public are invited over the ‘bridge’ to join the party organised by the business community. Another example is Surbiton Ski Sunday, which was established to test the hypothesis (suggested in a pub) that if you could ski down a snow covered hill with planks of wood on your feet, you should be able to ski down a suburban street with blocks of ice strapped to your feet. The motivation was – wow lets do it and see. In this case, businesses have been invited over the ‘bridge’ to join the party organised by members of the public. In both examples, people have fun and businesses (and charities) can benefit.
Kingston Pound is simply a bridge built from both sides, suggesting that businesses and the community can meet on neutral ground. It is another way to interact and another way to be quirky and different. It originates from business minded community members who cannot paint, write music, tell stories or anything traditionally creative and prefer working on building a local currency rather than playing golf. As members of the community the founders have been given the confidence to create and try something different – launch Kingston Pound.
We think that if we can keep some of our money circulating locally, it can have an impact on our community and that can be good economically but also make you feel even more proud of your town.
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