Businesses in Enfield are rallying together to encourage people to shop locally this Christmas.

As many of the biggest retail chains slash their prices for the seasonal period to compete for customers, smaller businesses are uniting to keep Enfield’s high streets busy.

A campaign by community group Love Your Doorstep has used an online hub to keep local businesses flourishing.

The website aims to drive online traffic towards local business websites and put customers in touch with shop owners personally to find out what they have on offer.

The founder of the site, Emma Rigby, said: “We did this last year but this year we have put a massive emphasis on getting people to shop locally. Not just on a one-off day, but we want people to recognise that we have some amazing shops on our doorstep.

“We don’t want people to click on Amazon this Christmas, we want them to ring our local retailers, look at our campaign online and our Facebook group to see what our retailers are offering because these people are feeding local families and contributing to the local economy."

Gary Kousoulou, director of online platform Loving Social Media and Good Looking Optics in Genotin Road, Enfield Town, believes this internet campaign can save the high street.

He said: “Internet shopping is convenient, easy to use and cost effective but it is killing our high street. Funnily enough, it is the internet that can also save our high streets as it is a great way for local businesses to advertise themselves.

“However, one session in the gym does not mean you have big muscles – we can’t just have one month helping local businesses, we need to support our local shops all year round and Love Your Doorstep is helping achieve this.”

Mrs Rigby went on to reveal the scale of popularity that this campaign is having online.

She said: “We have had more than 200 businesses join who really want to shop local and we are promoting it via our platforms, which have over 6,000 people and driving traffic to them.

“I think people have got busy and not have time to park and go in but people need to know that our local retailers are here to talk to people in real time and we can put people in touch directly with local shop owners who can take payments over the phone. Local shops will always go the extra mile for their customers.”