NEWSAGENT SAYS ALE SALES WILL HELP IT TO BOUNCE BACK
Business ppins Covid recoveryy hopes on longer hours and selling ‘strong booze’
A NEWSAGENT hopes to be allowed to sell strong beer and open until 10pm – to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
Shire News, in High Street, Newcastle, has asked Newcastle Borough Council for permission to sell beer with an alcohol percentage of 6.5 and above.
The shop has also applied to extend its opening hours until 10pm on Friday and Saturday. It currently closes at 6pm.
Owner Amanjit Kaur, aged 49, said: “We have had this business for more than a year now and when we first started things were going really well.
“Then Covid-19 happened. The pubs and shops in the town all closed down and several times I thought about closing due to the lack of customers and we were having to dip into our savings.
“I even had to talk to the landlord about reducing the rent. Eightyfive per cent of our customers are elderly and during lockdown they just stopped coming in. So I’ve been trying to think of ways to increase profit.”
She said the business’s opening hours of 6am to 6pm mean that on a Friday and Saturday it is missing out on trade from people coming out to the pubs.
She added: “A lot of people come to us on a Sunday and say they came to the shop last night but we were shut. So I want to extend our opening hours at the weekend until 10pm.
“Also, we’re currently not allowed to sell beer above 6.5 per cent, but a lot of people want to buy beer above 6.5 per cent. People come into the shop and see that we don’t have it and leave without buying anything.
“We have made these applications as we are hoping it will help us recover from the impact of Covid-19. I have rent to pay and the grant we received from the government only covered our bills. We don’t want to give up after a year. Businesses need a chance to recover. I hope the applications are approved and it will boost business.”
She says she doesn’t believe selling stronger beer will increase anti-social behaviour in the town, as other shops there already sell it.
Customer Olive Dale thinks extending the opening times is a good idea, but fears that selling strong beer could lead to more disorder in Newcastle.
The 84-year-old, from Talke, said: “I can’t see any problems with them extending their opening hours and I hope it helps them recover.
“They’re a really nice couple who run the shop, we always come here rather than the supermarket for our papers because it’s a family run business.
“But I don’t drink and I worry that selling stronger beer will attract even more anti-social behaviour around Newcastle than there is at the moment.”