Small shopkeepers have condemned lockdown unfairness which means they must close while major chains have customers queuing out on to the street. Household names are taking advantage of loopholes to continue trading, while at the same time benefitting from the cancellation of business rates worth billions of pounds. It comes after official data revealed retail … Read more
The future of the high street is ‘hanging in the balance’ after a huge number of job losses and store closures as a result of the coronavirus crisis, a union leader has warned. Paddy Lillis, general secretary of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said 125,000 retail jobs have been lost this year. He added 14,000 shops … Read more
Dean Hooke can hardly hide his delight. A tall man dressed in a striped shirt, chinos and straw hat enters his tailor’s shop in Bank, central London, at noon. It’s his first customer of the day. ‘Some days, we don’t get anyone coming in,’ Dean says. ‘At the moment, it’s normally one or two. Four … Read more