Bury St Edmunds has today been named as one of the country’s best high streets.

Bury got through to the top five of the Town Centre category in the annual Great British High Street competition, just missing out on going through to the public vote to decide the overall winner.

The top three which now be voted on are Rotherham, Altrincham and Tamworth.

Winners will get a share of prize pot worth £80,000 including expert training and tailor-made tips from Google’s training taskforce – the Digital Garage on Tour – for 100 of their shops, bars and restaurants.

Mark Cordell, chief executive of Ourburystedmunds, which manages the Business Improvement District (BID), said: “I am very proud that the proactive partnership working in Bury has been recognised nationally.

“The Town team has been working on projects such as the Wolf Trail, improving St Andrew’s Street South and attracting more visitors to the town and recent footfall data shows that numbers continue to increase. Bringing the first ever real ice skating rink to the town in December is just another way that the BID delivers benefits for our businesses, residents and visitors.

“We’ve been working hard with other stakeholders to make our community a better place to live and work and we are all delighted that this effort has been acknowledged in a competition such as this.”

High Streets minister Marcus Jones said: “We had a record amount of high-quality entries to this year’s competition – testament to the pride local people have and brilliant work being done to boost Britain’s high streets.

“The local high street is the life and soul of many towns, villages and cities across the country and these awards are a great opportunity to not only celebrate those that are the best of the best, but also to help others learn their valuable tips for success.

“Bury St Edmunds just missed out on the public vote this year but can take great pride in being named one of Britain’s best high streets.”

The Great British High Street Competition 2015 – sponsored by Boots, Costa, Post Office, Marks and Spencer and Tesco – is now in its second year and is one of a number of initiatives to help champion high streets as the cornerstones of the community.