Save city’s businesses!
ANGER AS MINISTERS REFUSE ADDITIONAL LOCKDOWN AID
Mayor urges ministers to allow £10m lifeline ‘Massive mistake’ not to help, government told
BUSINESS leaders have reacted with anger to news Leicester will not be getting extra help with the economic impacts of the lockdown – but have vowed to press on as best they can.
There have been fears hundreds of companies could go under unless extra cash is pumped into the city’s economy.
“Fundamentally sound” businesses could be lost, they said.
The head of the region’s Chamber of Commerce has warned of a “twotier recovery that risks disadvantaging Leicester”.
Non-essential retailers in an area that stretches beyond the city boundaries were forced to close last week to try to halt the localised spread of the disease.
There were accusations some businesses had contributed to the high number of cases by operating through the pandemic without adequate social distancing and hygiene.
Bars, restaurants and hairdressers desperate to start earning again were also forced to stay closed.
The lockdown could remain in place until at least July 18 but could be extended for a further two weeks if coronavirus infection in the city does not come down.
On Wednesday, Leicester West MP Liz Kendall received a letter from Nadhim Zahawi, minister for business and industry at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, stating Leicester will get no extra help.
Mr Zahawi outlined support already offered to city firms and said he hoped the lockdown would soon be lifted.
He said: “The Chancellor has already said there are no plans to change the scope or extend any of the schemes currently available”.
Paul Draper runs the Bread & Honey coffee shop, in King Street.
He has reconfigured the shop to make social distancing easier, but said he might leave it to the end of the summer before reopening.
He said: “We stayed closed because King Street was barren even when the city centre was open.
“Basically, we are in at least an extra three weeks lockdown and I’m absolutely livid.
“Financially, it hurts. I’ve had a grant, but it’s been pretty much four months now and that’s dwindling away.
“Realistically we would have hopes any grant would not just see us through closedown, but the difficult few months after.”
The owner of another Leicester city centre deli and coffee shop was less optimistic and has decided to close for good.
The Pantry, in Loseby Lane, in the city centre, opened in 2018, serving homemade vegan food and Peruvian coffee.
It closed in March, and owner Arti Chudasama has now said it will not be reopening.
Posting on Facebook, she said: “It hasn’t been an easy overnight decision to make, but for this moment in
time it is the right decision for me. This doesn’t mean it’s the end forever for The Pantry, it only means I’m working on another way to serve all you lovely, loyal, smiling customers my homemade vegan food.”
Scott Knowles, chief executive of East Midlands Chamber, said it was a “massive mistake” to leave Leicester businesses with no extra help.
He said: “The costs associated with having recently reopened or having prepared to reopen, and then closing down again, are significant and underappreciated.
“A number of businesses have already lost money on perishable stock after getting ready to welcome back customers following an extremely challenging few months.
“Without further support, there will unfortunately be a greater number of business failures in organisations that, without the impact of the lockdown, would be fundamentally sound.
“Many businesses have picked themselves up again and again over recent months but, given the severe cashflow restrictions many are facing, some will now question whether they are able – or indeed have the
appetite – to do so again. We have lobbied government to provide additional support in the form of grants, as opposed to debt that would just store up problems for 12 months’ time once interest rates pick up or deferred VAT needs to be paid.
“In order to support them in their planning and decision making, we have also asked for businesses to be given clarity over what a strategy for exit may look like and any tests that need meeting for the lockdown to end.
“The refusal from Westminster to provide any help means we now risk a two-tier recovery that risks disadvantaging Leicester, plus any other part of the country that may suffer a similar fate in the future, way beyond the actual period of the lockdown.”
Leicester tax specialist Pete Miller, who runs a small office in the city, said: “No doubt if lockdown is extended they’ll still expect us to comply, but why should we if we’re getting no support?
“Our infection rates are currently lower than much of the rest of the country, so we should simply go back to normal.”
Leicester-based business coach Marc Ford said there was little comfort for businesses within the city, but said Leicester industry had a history of resilience.
He said: “There has been some interesting actions from existing businesses within the city but also some amazing and fantastic stories as they have grown through the current crisis.
“How Leicester and the rest of the country recover is not about how to get life back to normal, it’s about encouraging creative and exciting business owners to try to do something different.
“Despite everything, the UK will never get this chance to do something so radically amazing again for many years.
Peter White, a Leicester-based office manager, said it was in the long-term interests of everyone for the government to help out.
He said: “The ability to adapt is what sets our species apart so let’s embrace change and evolve.
“Now the peak of Covid-19 has past its peak it’s sensible logic to proportionately increase restrictions on a local basis as opposed to nationally.
“The logical basis for this being that it’s in our society’s long-term interests, so by the same token targeted geographical economic support should be in place too.”
Labour Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth said: “Tory ministers put us in lockdown and now they have abandoned the city, its businesses and their employees.
“We will continue to push for the support that be had been led to believe was coming.”
It had been hoped that Chancellor Rishi Sunak would have outlined extra help for the only city in a local lockdown in his summer statement last on Wednesday but that did not happen.