Earlier this afternoon I joined up with Nick Weber, the Conservative candidate for The Dittons at the Surrey County Council elections on 6 May. We headed down to Thames Ditton High Street to chat to local business owners, now that restaurants, cafes and bars have re-opened.
At all the businesses we visited, we were very impressed by the innovative measures they’ve taken to adapt to the Coronavirus restrictions – both during lockdown, and since they’ve re-opened. We saw a particularly good example at La Fontana, an Italian café and deli, where Cecilia explained how they’d moved to a delivery service during lockdown, revamped their menu and made use of relaxed planning rules so more customers can eat and drink outside.
It was also good to hear that many businesses have benefitted from government support. Just this this week, for example, new figures showed that businesses in Elmbridge have received over £35m of government-funded grants during the pandemic.
Together, support from both government and local residents will help our high streets to bounce back from the pandemic.