“It’s about focusing on what you can do, not what you can’t” - Calderdale business owners on life under lockdown

The country is under lockdown for the third time in the space of a year, forcing businesses to either close their doors or find alternative ways of trading.

Ross Denby, owner of Just Gaia at the Piece Hall, said: “It’s challenging with the Piece Hall being closed because access is limited.

“We had a good spell in December in building our customer base back up, so it throws a challenge out there.

“But we launched in October 2019 so we’re used to this, it’s like normal business to us. We made sure we were ready for it, we expected something following Christmas as the cases started to rise.

“We planned for it with our website and our partnership with Cargodale, who use electric bikes to deliver to the local area for us.

“We’ve made sure the Woolshops entrance to the Piece Hall is available to us so we can man the door with one person making sure people come in safely with hand sanitisers and masks, walk up to the shop and be able to get their essential goods.”

Ross says still being able to operate the business means he is able to stay positive during such challenging times.

“If I was closed I would have those (negative) thoughts because I would have time on my hands but from our point of view, it’s just a challenge to rise to and find a solution,” he said.

“It’s not necessarily about our business right now, it’s more about those people that come to us on a regular basis. They want access to our products and services so we want to provide that and make sure they get what they want.

“When we re-open again we might think back on it, when things start to calm down in six or seven months, and think about how difficult it was.

“But when you’re in this situation, I think it’s just about adaptation, doing your best for the community you have around you and focusing on what you can do, not what you can’t.”

Ross says it’s more important than ever for people in Calderdale to shop locally if they can to help support the borough’s economy.

“When the Government are almost funneling people into the supermarkets and large shops it makes it even more of a challenge, so going to smaller independent businesses rather than standing in a queue at a supermarket is really nice,” he said.

“People shop in a habitual way, so if you’ve got six or seven weeks of going to the same place, it becomes harder once that lifts to change that behaviour.

“You maybe get into the habit of going to the supermarket, when before then, they didn’t.

“We want to make sure people feel comfortable coming to our shop and not having to stand in the crowds.

“At least coming to our shop is in more of an outdoor space and there are really good quality items that are good for people’s health and sustainable.”

Cargodale, based in Hebden Bridge, is one company that has flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic by offering environmentally-friendly deliveries.

Beate Kubitz, founder of Cargodale, said: “It’s a community interest business which means it’s not like a commercial company in the same way as a shop.

“We set up at the beginning of the first lockdown to deliver from local shops and businesses, and for anyone that needed deliveries.

“We had one bike in Todmorden and we were doing deliveries for the market, the food bank and various shops and people.

“We had three months of funding to expand it, so we got three bikes and started doing Hebden Bridge, Halifax and Todmorden.”

The company employs a mixture of volunteers and paid staff, and has 17 people working for it, serving around 20 different businesses.

“We’ve been pretty busy, and it’s really helped businesses change because I think it’s the transition between lockdowns and unlocking that’s difficult,” said Beate.

“When people can’t visit shops the shopkeepers were able to do the visiting but when you had a mix of people wanting to order things online or over the phone, and the doors being open, that’s really difficult for shopkeepers to manage, so we picked things up and took them for them.

“We do veg boxes for Just Gaia every Thursday, wine for The Wine Glass in the market every Thursday, and then in Todmorden and Hebden Bridge we work for other shops and businesses.”Some things are really regular, we do 50 veg boxes for Valley Organics in Hebden Bridge every Tuesday, and others are quite ad-hoc.

“There’s a place called The Tonic in Hebden Bridge that does mail order and whenever it’s for someone in the valley, we take them.

“We also do deliveries for the Yorkshire Chocolate Company, and an online beer supplier between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, we’ve worked for The Cheese Shop and Tod Almighty in Todmorden.

“Even for people who like to walk to the shops but can’t carry their shopping back.”

Beate is confident the company will continue to thrive even after the restrictions around Covid are eased.

“I think it’s a long-term prospect because where we’re doing veg boxes in the smaller towns, that’s taking us less time than it would in a van because everything’s close together, a cargo bike is easier to maneuver on narrow streets than getting a van to do a three-point turn,” she said.

“It’s quite efficient and more environmentally-friendly, so some customers will continue whatever happens.

“And it enables them to have a more sustainable business because they’re doing some deliveries, having some in their shop so they’re spreading the way they earn their income over different modes.”

Sarah Stuttle, Managing Director at Catch Seafood, says previous lockdowns have given the business a head start on how to adapt.

“We can’t thank our customers enough for their support using our takeaway service, but it has been heartbreaking to have the restaurant closed for so long,” she said.

“The hospitality industry has been massively impacted throughout the pandemic, we’ve gone the extra mile to comply with any rules and make eating out safe for our customers, but we have still seen limitation after limitation on our business.

“The latest lockdown comes as another blow. Thankfully we have a click and collect system and delivery service established that customers can use to minimise contact when ordering takeaway, so after the past nine months, unlike back in March, we were already set up to operate in a lockdown environment.

“I’m sure it’s not just us who are feeling the effects of what has been a horrendous year. It’s extremely difficult to plan ahead and deal with the uncertainty, especially as this time we haven’t been given an end date.

“Luckily for us we have an amazing team, our staff have adapted brilliantly to the situation and we’re so proud of how hard they’ve worked throughout the pandemic. All we can do is wait it out, carry on serving with a smile on our faces and hope we get some normality soon.”

Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Trust, said: “The Piece Hall Trust fully supports the Government’s new national lockdown as a means to control the virus, support the NHS and allow the vaccine to be rolled out to key workers and the most vulnerable.

“Many businesses in the UK, but particularly the arts, culture, hospitality, events and tourism sectors, continue to face serious economic and business challenges. This new lockdown will no doubt heavily impact those sectors further with some unhappy consequences.

“The pandemic has lasted much longer than anyone could have imagined however, I have seen such strength, resilience and imagination from people across the North and wider UK which has helped make a dire situation so much more bearable.

“The Piece Hall Trust and its tenants have had a really challenging year and as a Landlord, we have provided unprecedented support to our tenant community and will continue to do this as much as we are able. Sadly, despite providing this considerable financial help and offering an online shop and click and collect service - we have lost one or two tenants and were sorry to see them leave our community.

“We remain incredibly thankful for the emergency funding, furlough and business grant support we have received from Government and our funders to date. It was so heartening to learn that they recognise what we see in this magnificent building and that we have a really important part to play in the national and regional recovery.

“There is no doubt that the impact of this pandemic and restrictions imposed has been felt across the borough of Calderdale, and may for some time yet. To counter the impact  - there has been some great work carried out by Totally Locally and many local businesses have adapted and survived by thinking differently. It has been truly heart-warming to see the Borough come together and provide incredible support.

“With typical resilience and kindness, the local communities have stepped up and supported local businesses who may have had to face closure. Without this support, many of our tenant businesses and our own Trust outlets would not have survived. We are immensely grateful to all of our loyal customers for the financial and emotional support they have given to us during these very challenging times.

“By supporting local businesses – at any time – you are investing in your community, putting food on a family’s table, giving hope for the future, helping to keep a great iconic building sustained and ensuring that your community recovers. There is definitely light at the and the end of the tunnel and certainly the beginning of the end is in sight with the new vaccines being rolled out.

“We just need to hold on and sustain that resilience for a little bit longer.”

Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategy, Coun Jane Scullion, said: “The latest lockdown announcement will have come as another major blow to many local businesses, so I’m pleased that further grant support has been announced. We’re working through the process for making these new grants available and will update businesses as soon as we can.

“We want all eligible businesses to get the support to which they’re entitled. If any business is yet to apply for the existing Local Restrictions Support Grants (Open and Closed) and the Additional Restrictions Grant, I encourage them to do so as soon as possible, so we have their details for other potential payments.

“Teams are working hard to process applications and payments as soon as possible, but we really need to receive any outstanding applications before the end of January to ensure payments can be made before the Government’s deadline of March.”

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