Beeston in a ‘different world’ since Covid struck
BUSINESS OWNERS STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN ONCE-BUSTLING TOWN
STRUGGLING business owners have spoken out about the “disastrous” impact of the lockdown on Beeston’s main shopping street.
Three local people who have worked throughout the pandemic have described how they are dealing with the uncertainty of the next few months.
Majid Ali, the owner of Beeston News in High Road, said the situation was a “total disaster” for his business.
“My shop used to always have a queue outside. Now it is totally dead,” he told the Post.
He said he had received two council grants since the start of the pandemic but claims this was not enough to keep him afloat.
He said: “If we are essential and I stay open all day and have no customers, how am I an essential business?
“We are not getting half as much as the non-essential shops. It is disastrous.
“I am only opening because we still deliver newspapers every day and customers come in for newspapers.
“My running costs are more than we are making at the moment.”
He said many of the customers were elderly and were not leaving the house as much.
He said: “People aren’t going out of the house and most shops around here are closed. It’s horrible.
“This road has completely changed in a year. There is no reason left for me to stay here. I don’t think anyone can survive like this.”
The shopkeeper has worked at the shop for 15 years.
He said with every lockdown comes less footfall and less custom.
Pat Cook, who runs Lifestyle Express News and Essentials in Wollaton Road, Beeston, and another shop in Beeston Rylands, said she had seen a huge change in Beeston’s high street.
She said: “We are standing alone at the moment. We’re down in takings despite working all the way through.
“The area has changed. People go out in the morning for their shopping and stay at home in the afternoon.
“Come three o’clock the town
Come three o’clock the town completely dies. I’ve never seen anything like it before Pat Cook
completely dies. I’ve never seen anything like it before. I’ve worked in Beeston for 20 years.”
She said the business was “coping well” considering the circumstances, and newspaper deliveries were a constant source of income.
“People don’t want to queue at smaller shops anymore, especially if they have been to a supermarket,” she added.
She thinks the situation will only start to return to normal in around six months’ time.
She said: “You think that far ahead and wonder if you’re still going to be here.
“Last week we lost a couple of thousand because of the bad weather as well as Covid. It is very hard to navigate at the moment.”
Kim Bonney, who works at Tastie Bites Cafe, said the uncertainty of the situation was the hardest part.
She thought Chilwell and Beeston were “a different world” from what they were a year ago.
“The area has definitely changed, it is so quiet around here at the moment,” she said.
The cafe has been in High Road, Chilwell, for many years and has stayed open during the lockdown to offer takeaway food.
Kim said: “When we were in the tier system it was quiet but since lockdown it has been horrendous.
“Because all the other business are closed because of lockdown, we don’t get the same footfall.
“People aren’t going to the hairdressers or the pubs nearby. It affects our business too. We’re relying on the builders to stop by for their lunch.”
Kim said although on some days there were more customers than others, there was a clear difference in footfall in this lockdown.
She said: “It’s very strange at the moment.
“Now you get up in the morning and think if it gets any worse what we will do? You’re always thinking there could be another lockdown.”
She said that, at the start of the pandemic, people in the area were “in shock” before coming to terms with what was happening.
But she said now some people were “getting complacent”.
She added: “We used to get a lot of business in our seating area so having to shut that is our biggest problem.
“But everyone in this trade is the same. I really feel for the pubs and the hairdressers.”
A spokesperson for Broxtowe Borough Council said: “The council is administering the mandatory grants in line with the guidance provided by government.
“Where the council is provided with discretion, it has targeted businesses that are supplying those in the sectors that have been legally required to close.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the council has paid out over £25m in grants to businesses.
“In this total, the council has paid out over 90 percdent of its discretionary allocation and aims to continue to support more businesses over the coming weeks.”