Covid recovery

LOOKING UP AFTER LOCKDOWN

The pandemic put the country and citizens into unknown territory. Whilst many worried about their jobs, what happened with the people who provide some of those jobs?

“It was a brand-new set of circumstances I never had to confront before. I couldn’t see at the time of the announcement how we would get through this”

Steve Burgin, owner of Steven Burgin Hairdressing in Nantwich

Beth Heath drew on her naturally positive outlook to stay hopeful

That evening in March 2020 was unreal to pretty much everyone watching the PM’s statement – go home, stay at home, and leave only for essential reasons such as buying food and exercising once per day.

People who had painstakingly built up their businesses and spent all of their time making sure customers were welcome were now told to lock the doors, for how long nobody knew.

We spoke to the owners of a variety of businesses to ask about the impact that the pandemic and resulting shutdowns had on them, and their feelings about what’s next – which are remarkably upbeat!

Beth Heath is the owner and director of Fun at Shropshire Festivals, based in Ironbridge. “It was a really worrying time, but I’m ever the optimist and hoped that by the summer we would be back enjoying festivals and events,” she told us. “How wrong was I! My main concerns were with my staff; keeping their jobs safe and giving them the support they needed, as well as looking after my own family.”

“My main concerns were with my staff; keeping their jobs safe and giving them the support they needed”

Beth Heath, owner and director of Fun at Shropshire Festivals, based in Ironbridge

COMPLETE SHOCK

It came as a compete shock to David Easton, manager of Tweedmill shopping outlet in St Asaph. “To close a whole country… It was a time of fear and a lot of uncertainty. It was very sad to see the business close down not knowing if or when we would re-open.”

In Wrexham, Jenny Rawson, salon director of Lavender House of Beauty, was filled with uncertainty. “I hadn’t been through anything like this in the 21 years I’ve been in business!” she said. “I thought that the Government were going to have to do something to help out, which in part they did.”

Steve Burgin, owner of Steven Burgin Hairdressing in Nantwich, was initially very fearful for his business. “It was a brand-new set of circumstances I never had to confront before. I couldn’t see at the time of the announcement how we would get through this.”

“It was very sad to see the business close down not knowing if or when we would re-open”

“It was a desperately worrying time, for us and our customers”

Claire Moore, managing director of Peakes Travel Elite in Shrewsbury

Top: social distancing became the norm for Claire and her team, while in Bayston Hill David Preston scaled up home deliveries

BREXIT CHAOS

The lockdown news followed an already tough time for Peakes Travel Elite in Shrewsbury. Managing director Claire Moore was coping with all the chaos of Brexit, not to mention the recent flooding to Shrewbury town centre.

“It was a desperately worrying time, for us and our customers,” she explained. “Peakes has suffered a big impact on sales as a result of the pandemic. We had to pour resources into re-booking and cancelling holidays whilst travel restrictions continued. It’s been a really tough 19 months in the travel sector.

“Our travel agency is classed as non-essential retail, so the shop had to close over the lockdowns, but during that time our customers still needed our support, which meant putting a full team on furlough was not an option for us. Our dedication to customer service is the foundation of our offering and there was simply no way we couldn’t compromise that. The team have had to prioritise supporting our existing customers to re-arrange, refund and re-book holidays, through a period with severely reduced new bookings.

“The pandemic has been a catastrophe for the wider travel industry, closing borders right around the world and making most travel to and from the UK illegal for months on end, putting tens of thousands of jobs at risk.”

Claire Moore of Peakes

DID YOU KNOW?

By the end of 2020 the world was spending 3.3 trillion minutes a year in Zoom meetings!

SCALING UP DELIVERIES

As a food store, Daisy & Tilly’s in Bayston Hill, near Shrewsburyremained open throughout. “But that wasn’t without challenge,” said owner David Preston. “I was sourcing significant additional product, scaling up home deliveries and managing restrictions and precautions in the shop itself.”

The Government and local authorities offered financial help including grants, loans, furlough and SEISS.

Beth told us it wasn’t possible to put the whole team on furlough; they still needed to plan for events, as they had no idea how long the restrictions would go on for. “We were very lucky to eventually receive cash from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, which gave us the resources to plan for our 2021 events,” she said.

Claire was frustrated that while some sectors received tailored support such as specific grant schemes, many travel businesses were excluded from the general support available and others only able to access the bare minimum.

A HARD PILL

“Whilst some sectors have had lots of support, the Government has been telling people not to travel, which has been a hard pill to swallow for travel businesses,” she explained. “We have no other means of generating income. If people don’t travel then we don’t make any money, it’s as simple as that. We were able to furlough some staff, but we couldn’t furlough everyone as our customers still needed our support.”

David Preston received a Small Business Grant. “This was largely spent on expanding staffing hours, PPE and other costs associated with the significant impact on the business, including covering the cost of staff isolating at various points,” he said.

“There were several financial initiatives that were hugely helpful,” said Eddie Davies, of United Carpets in Crewe. “My

local authority, Cheshire East Council, offered a Small Business Grant which went a long way to covering the rent and other fixed costs whilst we were closed. My staff were furloughed and I topped that up so they were not missing any pay.”

GOVERNMENT MOVES

Other Government moves were not so helpful. “They made changes without having the correct rules in place,” explained David Easton. “Some rules didn’t make sense. Two that stick out are the county lockdown, and the one where you could only have a soft drink when you went to eat out.

“But from a personal point of view furlough was a godsend. It doesn’t bear thinking about what state we would all have been in now if the scheme hadn’t been put in place.”

Beth was relieved that many events and venues were thrown a lifeline with the culture recovery grants, commenting that without them the state of live cultural events would be much bleaker now. The vaccination roll-out has also been great, she added. “But so much could have been done better. With the constant changing of rules and moving of goal posts, it has been impossible to forward plan through the pandemic, which is really tough for a small family-run business such as Shropshire Festivals.”

Scenes from the pandemic: neighbourhood schemes, Zoom meetings, queues (oh the queues!) and more time for the little things

VACCINE ROLLOUT

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Claire agreed that whilst the speed of the vaccine roll-out was incredible, “the mixed messages, constant rule changes, releasing new guidance with no warnings – often on weekends when we couldn’t speak to anyone – and lack of clear information made it impossible to manage the situation efficiently.”

“The furlough scheme helped lots of small businesses, as for many it would have been impossible to meet payroll with no money coming in,” Eddie told us. “I know a lot of self-employed people who were helped by the SEISS grants. But as many small business owners were encouraged to pay themselves via dividends (on which you still pay tax) they were not included in either furlough or SEISS so had no income at all. It was awful for them.”

“The vaccination roll-out has been great, but so much could have been done better”

During the lockdowns most people were at home, but as a food business Daisy & Tilly’s were open seven days a week, working flat out. “We were helped by a number of volunteers who delivered food orders to the vulnerable and others who were isolating, showing great community spirit,” David Preston said. “It was also great to see customers patiently and cheerfully queuing, often in the rain, so that we could manage the social distancing in the shop.”

With the Tweedmill shopping outlet closed, David Easton made the most of it! “The first lockdown was great: spending more time with the children, getting all the projects finished around the house and garden,” he said. “Zoom chats with friends made the most of an uncertain situation. The next lockdowns were not as enjoyable as we were stuck in the house as it was winter. I certainly wouldn’t have liked to be living alone during lockdown.”

Beth is always on the go, travelling around the county meeting sponsors, exhibitors, clients and networking. For her the lockdown meant more time at home, more time with the kids and more time getting jobs done around the farm.

NO POINT IN WORRYING

Beth Heath, owner and director of Fun at Shropshire Festivals

“Once the shop was locked up and I knew that the staff would continue to be paid, there was not much point in worrying about it,” said Eddie. “A week or so into lockdown I got the shovel out and said to my wife, okay, where do you want his pond you’ve been talking about? Although if I’d known how hard it would be to dig, I don’t think I’d have suggested it!” Claire thought it was fantastic to spend time at home with the kids, “but the ongoing situation at work, rebooking holidays, reassuring customers, not knowing when sales would return was tough, so it was hard to enjoy it as much as I wanted to.” DID YOU Re-opening after lockdown meant complying KNOW? with a raft of legislation and recommendations. Around 129 billion At Tweedmill they ensured their customers and staff face masks are used felt safe. “We implemented a one-way system,” said David around the world every month! Dispose of yours thoughtfully Easton, “and had a member of staff on the door asking everyone to sanitise their hands and make sure facemasks were worn. There were also sanitising stations around the store. We had 2m distancing measures throughout using lots of signage and floor tape, screens at all till points and counters, and of course masks for all unless exempt.” ›

DID YOU KNOW? Hair and beauty salons generate more than £7.5 billion in revenue for the economy

Jenny Rawson with a client at Lavender House of Beauty, pre-lockdown

HEIGHTENED CLEANING ROUTINES

Beauty salons have always had super-high hygiene standards, but even more were put in place at Lavender House. “On re-opening we had social distancing, amended salon hours, heightened cleaning routines, masks, PPE… We spent thousands on air filters so even if we couldn’t have a window open then the air was safe,” said Jenny.

“Salons were last to open which was really annoying – you could go for a beer but couldn’t get your nails done! We’d all be masked up with PPE, in a very hygienic environment, only one client with a therapist in each area, yet you could go into a pub and mix. That made me doubt the system in a big way and left me quite angry.”

Claire changed the way she runs the travel agency, switching to appointment-only. “This meant we could ensure everyone was socially distanced and numbers inside were limited,” she said.

“The nice surprise has been to discover this model works really well for us. It means we can make sure each customer is booked in with the agent who has the perfect expertise and knowledge, and customers can be seen to straight away. If someone wants to stop by without an appointment, we can usually accommodate that too.”

CIRCUIT BREAKER

The English four-week national ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown in November 2020 came as a huge blow to businesses hoping to recoup some losses in the run-up to Christmas, with Wales taking action even earlier in October with a 17-day ‘firebreak’.

Then on 30th December most of country was moved to tier four, and on 4th January 2021 the PM announced the third national lockdown to start on 6th January; schools, pubs, restaurants and non-essential retail were to close and people were once again ordered to stay at home.

“We knew it was coming, but to close us down without any notice at 5pm on the Saturday before Christmas was very unfair for all businesses,” said David Easton. “We have to forwardorder all our stock and it would have been a busy weekend just before Christmas. We did end up with some waste and gave what we could from the farmshop and cafés to a local foodbank. When decisions were made, they should have stuck to them.”

“Salons were last to open which was really annoying - you could go for a beer but couldn’t get your nails done! ”

Jenny Rawson, salon director of Lavender House of Beauty in Wrexham

MORE STRAIN

“We felt utter devastation that it wasn’t over,” said Claire. “January is a really popular time to book holidays, so hearing this news meant knowing the business was going to be put under more strain, with more uncertainty going forward.”

Eddie said: “We were told by trading standards that although the shop was closed to the public, we were allowed to visit customers in their own homes – with full PPE – and the fitters could still work as they were classed as tradespeople. We had strict hygiene measures in place, so we were able to keep some turnover going which was a great help.”

Beth’s reaction to the announcement? “Not again! After going through all that worry, home schooling, cancelling and postponing events, to know it wasn’t ending yet was heartbreaking. We had to start postponing festivals again, which is a lot of work refunding and moving tickets, and letting down all our suppliers and exhibitors who depend on our events for their revenue.”

LONG-TERM DAMAGE

Jenny wondered when we were going to see the back of the virus. “What long-term damage are we doing to future

generations,” she asked, “and how will they get back into an economically resilient place? Because at the end of the day they will be the ones who pay the price for this.

I’m not in the Government, I don’t see all of the statistics, but I do wonder whether the later lockdowns were necessary. On a personal basis, I think we could have continued with heightened precautions, but the powers-that-be thought otherwise, so that’s what we respected.”

This lockdown would not start to lift until 8th March, when schools re-opened. From 12th April, non-essential retail and personal care services including hairdressers and beauty salons re-opened. Pubs and restaurants opened for outdoor serving after this date as well. In England, from 19th July, most of the lockdown restrictions lifted.

THE YEAR TO COME

So how are our business owners feeling about the year ahead? Despite everything, Claire is optimistic. “We have survived the toughest time in the travel sector,” she told us. “I believe the appetite to travel is there, we just need the travel rules to make it as safe and as easy as possible for people wanting to plan their summer holidays.

“During the pandemic some tour operators treated customers really unfairly, so we have taken the decision not to work with them again. That means the holidays we provide are with the most trustworthy operators, giving added reassurance to customers.”

David Preston is hopeful that the supermarket dependency that had developed over the years may be broken.

“Customers can now see that shopping local and supporting local and small producers can offer a more satisfying (and more tasty!) experience than the often chaotic and frankly sterile environment in big stores,” he said. “We plough the bulk of our income straight back into the local economy.

‘Of course, 2022 holds lots of challenges, not least commodity and energy price inflation, tax increases, further impacts from Brexit and ongoing Covid insecurities. But we always try to stay optimistic and we are looking forward to building on the ‘shop local’ dynamic.” Being a well-established business and having been responsible in the way she has conducted business in the past, Jenny thinks Lavender House is in a position where it can ride out the storm.

“I’m hopeful for the future,” she added, “because I feel our skillset and knowledge is unique, and I think that as a team of highly professional women we will go forward and conquer. So, yes, on that basis I do feel that we will be okay through all of this.

“But in terms of do I feel the world of business has changed from here on in, I think the ‘good old days’ have gone and it’s a rocky path to follow to find our way through to green pastures. I’m confident we’ll do it, but, that will simply be down to the resources and the determination of me and my team, as opposed to the Government paving the way for the future.”

NEW EVENTS FOR 2022

The Shrewsbury Food Festival and Shropshire Oktoberfest were able to go ahead in the autumn of 2021.

“The ticket sales were brilliant,” said Beth. “It demonstrated the thirst for attending events again and gave me my mojo back! We now have lots of new events planned for 2022 – we hope to see you there. I am ever the optimist!”

Steve also feels extremely positive. He reflected: “I think we have become far more valued as an industry because of the way our closure affected people’s well-being.”

Trade at Tweedmill was initially slow on re-opening but over the months it has picked up. “It’s nice to see our regular customers return and we have seen an increase with the coaches,” David said. “There is still some uncertainty, but we will take each day as it comes and deal with anything if and when it happens.”

Eddie concluded by telling us: “The flooring and furnishing sectors benefitted from pent-up demand from the various shutdowns, and people who had saved money for holidays spent it on their houses instead. I see 2022 possibly dropping in turnover a little, but levelling out going forward.”

So, it may be a ‘new normal’ – but it seems that the view going forward is refreshingly optimistic!

“we will take each day as it comes and deal with anything iF and when it happens”

David Easton, manager of Tweedmill shopping outlet in St Asaph