‘Keep calm and support traders’
STUART PIKE
ABUSINESS chief says the coronavirus crisis could be “potentially catastrophic” for many Hyndburn businesses, but has urged people to support independent traders and “keep calm”.
Brendan Duffy, president of Hyndburn Chamber of Trade, says it is “too early to say” what the impact of the outbreak - nor the government’s advice for people to avoid public gatherings including pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues will have on the borough’s economy.
He also told the Observer it was important for small businesses to make full use of the government grants of up to £3,000 that have been made able to qualifying firms to mitigate the harm of the pandemic.
His comments were made on Tuesday, before the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a £330 billion lifeline package aiming to support the UK’s economy to get through months.
Mr Duffy said: “The situation is changing almost hour by hour really. As far as I am aware there are government grants available up to £3,000 for businesses that pay small business rates. People are still coming out and walking about. People need to use their common sense and keep calm.
“At the same time peothe coming ple need to be reasonable and sensible and follow government guidelines. People will need to view the government updates daily to see where we are today.”
In his press conference on Monday, Mr Johnson asked people to avoid any unnecessary social contact including going out to eat, drink and to the theatre as part of new measures to slow the spread of coronavirus.
But unlike leaders in countries such as Ireland, France and Italy, he did not ban venues from opening - leaving venues having to make difficult decisions with no guarantees of financial help.
Mr Duffy added: “It’s not just the leisure industry; there’s quite a few different businesses in the high street which are struggling with the change in economic environment, and obviously something like this is going to be potentially catastrophic to some businesses. It would be foolish to think otherwise.
“In times like this it’s important to support our local businesses because independents in the high street have been struggling for a long time. For some time it’s going to be incredibly difficult.”