Lewes, printing its own money

This is why a growing number of towns and cities worldwide are creating local currencies (the article has a few more details): "According to one analysis, 80 per cent of the money that goes into a supermarket till leaves the local economy immediately. By backing local stores such trends can be reversed"
In the case of Lewes, I liked this connection;

it is no coincidence that the town's most famous resident is the radical political pamphleteer Thomas Paine, credited with sowing the intellectual seeds of American independence. Etched under a painting of Paine on a wall of one of Lewes's churches is one of his most famous aphorisms: 'We have the power to build the world anew.'

Lewes, the proud town that is printing its own money | Business | The Observer: