New hope as ‘ghost town’ Unlocks at long last
DESPITE not having any outdoor space for his Great Western Arcade wine tasting house, Loki owner Phil Innes also felt the benefit as lockdown eased on Monday.
He told the Post. “My shop has been open throughout lockdown – as an essential retailer and I could definitely see the improvement in our sales in one day.
“But personally, it was just so nice to see the buzz back in the city centre.
“It’s been awful over the past year. Totally dead – a ghost town.
“My shops have survived thanks to the online site, and our online wine tasting events, which have been so popular, we are continuing them after lockdown.”
Mr Innes, who also runs Loki shops in Edgbaston and Knowle, added: “Sadly Loki does not have access to outdoor dining space in the city centre, and that is the same for most city centre venues. The key date is May 17. That is what everyone is looking forward to because then by then even more people will have been vaccinated, rates will continue to fall hopefully, and then hospitality can fully return to its best.”
Mr Innes has recently taken on the very unit in Knowle where he did his training as a teenager almost 20 years ago.
Mr Innes said it had been a “really, really tough” 12 months but believes the pandemic could actually bring more people back to smaller shopping areas and, crucially, to supporting local outlets.
“Looking to the future I feel quite positive about bricks and mortar retail,” said the 35-year-old, from Birmingham.
“People can come in, they can get some advice, they can discover something and speak to someone who is an expert in what they are talking about.”
And he believed that smaller businesses – both rooted in and spend
is transformed overnight after 12 months of misery Looking to the future I feel quite positive about bricks and mortar retail Phil Innes, of Loki wine merchants
ing money in the community – would be increasingly attractive.
Had the last year unfolded differently, Mr Innes could well have opened his Knowle premises in April 2020.
While the first lockdown put paid to his original plans he returned to the idea later in the year.
He confesses that he has a “sentimental” connection to the Station Road unit he now occupies, having cut his teeth in that exact building during the noughties – when it was operating as a Wine Rack.
“It felt really weird coming back and having the keys to the place,” he said.
Mr Innes admitted that the last year had been “the hardest” since he opened his original store in 2012.
Social distancing restrictions in the second half of last year had put a major strain on the wine bar side of the business, with capacity cut by 50 per cent.
“You make your money on a Friday and Saturday night and the rest of the week is a bit of a bonus,” he said, when outlining the difficulties of quieter venues.
But he insisted that outlets have adapted quickly and taken advantage of new opportunities, with some 280 households signing-up for virtual cheese and wine tastings.
The different sections of the store fall across the various phases of the government’s roadmap restrictions.
Alcohol sellers are actually classed as “essential shops” and Loki could have in fact stayed open throughout the lockdown, although Mr Innes opted to remain closed until last month.
“Infection rates were so high at that point when you think back to the beginning of January, I just thought that even though I can legally open, I don’t think morally it’s the right thing to do.”
Knowle’s sister store, in the Great Western Arcade, opened to outdoor drinkers from Wednesday, although Loki is expecting to wait until mid-May before it can open its indoor bars. Mr Innes is nonetheless excited about
for
lifting
this week’s rule changes, with hopes of renewed footfall in a village centre which has been eerily quiet for months; Solihull had entered Tier 4 restrictions in the dying days of December.
As restrictions ease there are suggestions that smaller, more provincial centres - such as Knowle - could reap the benefits.
Long dominated by independents and family-run businesses, the village was said to have had a boost from increased home-working and people “staying local” in the second half of 2020.
Now stores ranging from Knowle Traditional Sweet Shop to Carly’s gifts are among those “coming out of hibernation”, having last welcomed customers when Christmas lights were still in the windows.
Visit Knowle, a collection of businesses, residents and community groups, said: “There is a real buzz in the village as everyone is preparing to reopen and we wish them every success.”