Business owners react to ANOTHER closure as Northamptonshire prepares for Tier Four

A number of business owners have been left disappointed by the move to a higher tier of Covid-19 restrictions for Northamptonshire.

From tomorrow (December 31), the county will be in Tier Four meaning non-essential shops, personal care services, such as hairdressers, and gyms will have to shut.

Many other areas such as Birmingham, Leicestershire and Warwickshire have all also been moved from Tier Three to Tier Four as Covid-19 cases continue to rise in many parts of the country.

For businesses like hairdressers, another closure is a devastating blow at the end of a difficult year, especially as they have only a few hours to inform clients that appointments tomorrow will not be taking place.

Matt O'Neil-Kemp, owner of Naked salon at the top of The Drapery, said: "Nobody wants their business to be shut, especially as we don't know a time frame as to how long it will be for.

"It's not great news, but for us it is kind of welcomed as 80 percent of our clients are from Milton Keynes, which is already a Tier Four area.

"So we weren't seeing that many customers, but we also weren't getting support. We may now get some help from the Government.

"We will have to ring customers today, revert back to what we were in the first lockdown and just play everything by ear again."

Gavin McIntyre, owner of G&E McIntyre's in The Ridings, added: "There is now a lot of uncertainty as we don't know how long we will be staying in Tier Four for.

"We respect and appreciate the decision as we don't want people poorly or for the NHS to be overwhelmed.

"We also appreciate that furlough is there and the grants too, but it is disappointing as we have spent so much to work as safely as we can and as an industry we are so hygienic.

"It's baffling that we can't work one-to-one with clients when we haven't had any positive cases or calls from Track and Trace.

"We were expecting it though, so we will be as informative as possible with our clients and we'll look forward to welcoming them back when we can."

As well as personal care services, non-essential shops including clothing stores, homeware stores, electrical and mobile phone shops, tobacco and vape shops, betting shops, tailors, vehicle showrooms (except for rentals), auction houses (except for livestock and agricultural equipment) and market stalls selling non-essential goods will also have to shut.

Steve Ward, owner of St Giles Cheese - affected by the announcement, said: "It's going to make us go quiet again.

"I expect once we have had our week off next week we will reopen and go back to doing deliveries again.

"We are disappointed in a way but it's something that needs to be done, I think.

"Full on lockdown is a better answer. The problem with the tier system is people lose track of where we are and what it means.

"A full lockdown is clear set. Everyone we have seen is massively confused with what to do. We will continue regardless."

It also marks the second time Northamptonshire's gyms have been ordered to close to customers. Indoor fitness venues were not clamped down in the second national lockdown in November, but they have not escaped the restrictions announced today.

Faraj Elfakir of Better Bodies Gym in Freehold Street is concerned this is more than businesses like his can take.

"Business was slow even before this," said Faraj. "Members visiting hasn't got back up to where it was before the first lockdown.

"I'm worried this will put us under. We will be closed by tomorrow morning.

"It's not good for our members' mentality either, you need that training and that routine.

"We're just not sure what's going to happen."

Here is exactly what Tier Four means for Northamptonshire and its residents.

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