Businesses reflect on 2021 as restrictions ease

With most of England’s Covid-19 restrictions being legally lifted on Monday, the BBC followed a number of business owners during 2021 to see how the pandemic had affected their lives.

Florist Diana Kaye has shops in Newcastle, Yarm and Gilling West, North Yorkshire. On 1 January she reflected on the lessons of the pandemic, saying: “It was very frightening that after nearly 40 years of hard work, we could have seen the end of my business.

“I’m feeling a little bit brighter about it at the moment, at least we know what to expect. I have learnt a lot.

“Customer service is so important… I really want to meet everybody’s wishes and help them as they are helping me. So if that means answering telephone calls at obscure times of day and night that’s fine.”

She relies on imported Dutch flowers and said on 2 February that Brexit had gone “smoothly”.

“There were no delays and there has been no increase in prices,” she said.

Despite lockdown, she continued web sales and click and collect from her Yarm shop, adding: “We are doing the best we can in a very difficult situation.”

And as the year continued, she told us on 11 April: “This is the night before we reopen our stores across the North East. It’s been tricky with furlough, unfurlough, making sure we were doing the paperwork correctly. We’re really looking forward to getting back to some kind of normal.”

After a rollercoaster period, last week she was upbeat and looking forward to the end of most legal restrictions, saying: “Business has gone slowly and gradually up and up.”

Maxine Palmer runs the appropriately-named Tea Cake Max café in Holywell, Northumberland. She kept the business going during the pandemic with a takeaway and delivery service.

Back on 6 March the lockdown was still in force, but she had noticed “a change in atmosphere” with a “carefree attitude” emerging, saying: “I have had a real giggle with a lot of my customers. I even had one girl from Chicago who has been stuck here a while now.

“I think people are sensing that things are changing and there’s an end coming to this, so that’s a really good thing. Business has been good. People are out enjoying the sunshine so let’s hope that this continues.”

On 12 April , the day non-essential retail reopened in England, Maxine reflected on big changes, saying: “Lots more people are getting out and about and doing some shopping.

“And for people who had to close and couldn’t trade, today will be a massive day.”

Now Maxine says the lifting of restrictions means a drop in trade from local customers who are now going further afield, but it does have a silver lining.

“Where we may be losing a little bit from local people going out of the area, I have been absolutely flooded lately with requests for buffets,” she said.

She also remarked local roadworks and not the pandemic were the chief talking point in the village, adding: “Covid was something that people seemed to accept and get along with.

“But block the roads up and there’s hell on.”

Anne Russell runs a translation business in Hexham, Northumberland. Originally from Germany, she has spent most of her working life in the UK. On 15 January she enjoyed watching a DVD of the Handel opera Tamerlano, saying: “I found it very, very soothing and I guess that’s what we all need right now with Covid and also Brexit”.

February saw Anne reflecting on the challenges faced by a client, a UK beauty product exporter. “My UK customer is doing everything possible to maintain her EU market, to stay competitive in a market place where they are no longer really an equal competitor,” she said.

Last month she had finished an English to German translation for a pet insurance company to a tight deadline, a task made more complicated by the terminology required.

She said: “It’s not just a matter of replacing one word with one other word, you always have to look at the full sentence.”

On 16 July she warned we were heading for a “sad Christmas”.

“If the Covid situation improves, the effects of Brexit will become more obvious. I am worried about the younger generation losing their jobs,” she said.

Nima Beni is operations director at a family-run Seaham company which prepares cheese for the fast-food industry and employs 140 people.

On 8 February the lockdown was on his mind, with him saying: “You just have to carry on. I am sure for many people mentally it’s becoming a bit draining, a bit tedious. Obviously even for myself, even for my family, we are just longing to be able to go on holiday.”

Nima started the year with Brexit as a focus, and six months later its aftermath was still a concern. On 15 July he worried that many EU workers had returned to their home countries taking their “knowledge, skills, mentality and desire” with them, leaving sectors such as manufacturing , haulage and hospitality struggling to recruit.

As for the pandemic, he feared restrictions were being removed too quickly, saying: “Within my company we have very strictly told the staff that on site you need to wear masks. We believe at this stage it’s the right thing to do. It’s the choice of a company that’s trying to be responsible for their workforce.”