‘It’d be the end for many businesses’: Threat of second lockdown casts long shadow in Blackburn

After a rise in Covid-19 cases across the northwestern town, locals are fearful for their futures and livelihoods if new restrictions enforced

Marcus Gannon, director of Hobkirk Sewing Machines, which can trace its history in the town back to 1903 (Samuel Lovett)

For a town already caught in a slow and painful state of decline, the coronavirus pandemic has brought Blackburn to its knees. Decades of de-industrialisation and growing economic deprivation have left the area struggling to find its purpose – while larger, more prosperous neighbours have reinvented themselves – but the economic damage wrought by Covid-19 could prove to be the final straw.

“We’ve been here for 32 long years,” said Maria Elder, the owner of Sudell Sandwiches, a small cafe in the town centre. “Lots of loyal customers over the years. We’d serve students from the college too. We even had a contract with the police to feed the officers when the football was on. That’s all gone, for now at least. We’re barely coping.”

The worry for Ms Elder and other independent businesses is what a second lockdown would mean for the town. After a recent surge in cases, Blackburn finds itself walking a dangerous line. The region’s seven-day rate currently stands at 47 infections per 100,000 people and is expected to rise in the coming days.

Authorities have already tightened restrictions this week, urging residents to limit the number of visitors to their homes and to wear face coverings in enclosed public settings, but the plunge back into full lockdown would likely drive many companies to the point of no return.

“I think it’d shut us down,” said Ms Elder. “People are extremely scared and worried, because there’s a lot of places that only opened on Monday – beauticians, hairdressers. And it’s still very quiet.

“We’ve been here a long time, we’re an established business, but it has seriously impacted us, it really has. I’ve had to lay off one girl as a result.”

Asad Jalil, who has run a dry cleaning shop in the town centre since 1989, said a second lockdown would push his business “over the edge”.

“It’d be the end for many people,” he says. “The writing has been on the wall a long time and, if I’m being honest, I think it’s too late for many of us [despite the reopening of businesses]. It’s been absolutely disastrous.

“If there’s another lockdown for two or three weeks, it’s going to make it worse. People are already scared. There’s not enough money for going out, buying new stuff, people are making do with what they’ve got.

“I can’t see my business returning. I doubt I’ll be here next year. Many of my usual customers are at home, working in their pyjamas. They don’t need to go into the office anymore. They don’t need to get their suits cleaned. I only came back yesterday but I don’t think it’s going to pick up again.”

Some businesses never made it to the end of lockdown, laid low by the sudden arrest in economic activity across the country. Although trade has been good for Anna Green and Emily Yates since they reopened their salon earlier this month, they are one of the few to have come through this period of turbulence.

“In this building alone, there’s one room empty next door and upstairs there’s six empty,” Ms Green said. “They’ve had to fold. It’s not the most affluent of areas. A lot of people have packed up and gone.”

Many local businesses have been quick to enforce new guidance announced earlier this week (Samuel Lovett)

The pandemic has only added to Blackburn’s problems. The local council has seen its spending power decline by nearly one-third since 2010, losing out on tens of millions of pounds, while the region has one of the lowest life-expectancy rates in the country.

Some buildings in the town centre have stood empty for 10 years or more. Unwilling to take a risk on Blackburn and its struggling economy, business has been turning elsewhere in the northwest.

“Blackburn was a booming town,” said Mr Jalil, the dry cleaner owner. “People used to flock here from all around, but now they don’t even bother. They either go into Bolton or Preston. There’s no footfall in Blackburn anymore.”

Deprivation is also a serious and growing issue. Last year, the charity End Child Poverty revealed that half of all children in Blackburn lived in poverty, with this rate up to two-thirds in the ward of Bastwell.

Nonetheless, stoicism runs deep in these parts. Residents are aware that everyone has a role to play in getting through the pandemic.

“Everyone is putting on face masks, all our customers are taking it on board,” said Marcus Gannon, director of Hobkirk Sewing Machines, which can trace its history in the town back to 1903. “No one has got anything against it. They all appreciate it. And in a way, it gives customers who want to come in here the confidence to do so. People are just getting on with it.”

Ms Elder, the cafe owner, echoed these sentiments, saying that “the majority of people are now wearing masks” and abiding by the rules – at least in public. “Everyone is taking it seriously,” she said. “I think the new restrictions are a good thing but we’ll have to see how it goes.”

The council has also been working hard with small businesses to ensure they can operate under the current system. “I know some of our officers have been out and helped put the new guidance in place,” said Saima Afzal, a councillor. “Everyone has been really proactive. I think we’ve got a really resilient community in Blackburn so they are carrying on.”

“My company has been here for 100 odd years,” said Mr Gannon. “I want it to be here another 100 years. We can’t give in.”