‘The council have turned my dream into a nightmare’

ONE of Wokingham’s struggling retailers had admitted that they may not be around to celebrate the finished regeneration unless shoppers return to the town centre.

Jo Jackson, who runs Kerry Roberts Barbers in The Plaza, told The Wokingham Paper that she had been offered just £1,900 in rates rebate, which barely covers the £15,000 in lost custom over the past 12 months.

“How is this acceptable?” she asked. “I’m beside myself with the whole thing. I’m sick to death of the regeneration.

“I can’t sleep at night, I’ve a mortgage to pay, have three children and an overdraft to pay off. I just don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

She said that she was told her rates rebate was based on a percentage of her turnover, but a different business received the same amount.

“The council don’t understand what they’re doing to us. They just don’t think,” she said.

“It’s very likely that I could lose my shop. The trade is not going to come back for a long time.

“My customers are going to barbers outside of town, so why should they bother coming back?

“Later this month is our 30th anniversary, I should be celebrating but instead I’m in tears.”

Ms Jackson has worked at the salon since she was 14 and took it over four years ago.

“They’ve ruined my dream and turned it into a nightmare,” she said.

It took six months for her rates rebate to be decided by the council, and during that time her payments were put on hold. As a result she now has to make up the arrears.

“I can’t afford any of it,” she said. “Paying my rent and my staff comes before Wokingham Borough Council.

“The chances are they could send bailiffs round. It’s totally disgusting, but I’m scared to be honest, it’s really scary.”

Despite this, Ms Jackson is determined to keep the popular salon going.

“I’m trying everything I can do. At the end of the day, it’s not just me who’s struggling.”