Many of our hairdressing, hospitality and some leisure businesses will have reopened now, or be doing so soon. A few people I’ve spoken to in the last week have been to a pub or a restaurant and reported a slightly surreal experience, with everyone being required to operate within new rules. It will be incumbent on individuals, both members of the public as customers, and the ‘operators’ of the businesses reopening, to conduct themselves in a sensible manner. Respecting individual social distancing and measures such as washing hands will continue to be necessary for some time into the future. Taking note of the way venues have to run, often by appointment and with managed footfall, ordering drinks and food from your table, etc. will all be critical to avoiding a spike in infections. Above all, we do not want to cause an extended lockdown, as in Leicester for example!
On 8th July we held another Virtual Coffee event: Restart Your Business Session 7: The UK Property Market – Past, Present And The ‘New Future’, led by David Robertson of
Stream Properties Ltd
, with an excellent and thought provoking presentation. On 9th July we had another Virtual Coffee event, run jointly with our Member
Mouse Literate
- Quick Wins with Microsoft Office. Videos from both these events will shortly be available on our
YouTube
channel.
Wednesday 15th July sees our monthly
Virtual Breakfast
- Expanding Your Network and a Special Opportunity for our Newest Members
. Chamber breakfast meetings have taken a slightly different format since becoming online events, and those whom we would usually have hoped to meet in person are yet to have a formal introduction. Therefore, new Members are being invited to introduce themselves and their businesses properly and will each have a 2 to 3 minute spotlight on their business. All new members should have received a separate email to this effect and are reminded to book both the event (in the usual way)
and also their 2-3 minute slot with
Kerry-Anne Kitson
. After the introductions, there will be a chance to ask any questions, followed by the regular one minute speed round of all other Members.
Here is a link to the
MVDC website
where they have listed everything you could want or need for restarting in one place. The different headings lead to the relevant sections of the advice contained on the Gov.uk website. This link is also on the Home page of our website. For those looking for signage, screens, etc., Chamber Member
Kall Kwik
Leatherhead has developed a wide range in a number of colourways. Our videos of the Risk Assessment and Working Safely During Covid-19 and HR Considerations session featured in previous newsletters are still available on our
YouTube
channel, and continue to be added to weekly.
A reminder from MVDC that every business open should have carried out a Risk Assessment and completed and be displaying the blue Staying Covid-19 Secure in 2020
notice
prominently on a door or window. Please be careful with putting out A-boards!
The Chancellor of the Exchequer has made a number of announcements, including: reduction in VAT to 5% for hospitality,
savings on meals out Monday-Wednesday
, an increased limit of £500,000 for Stamp Duty, and so on. Look out for these and other changes on news sites and on the
Gov.uk
site too. Another recent change transferred responsibility for agreeing outside seating on pavements to the Local Authority instead of the Highways Authority. There is also an intention that the costs and delays for applications will be much reduced. So, who knows, we may start to see much more al fresco eating and drinking in our streets - perhaps partly offsetting the reductions in indoor capacity of our hospitality businesses!
Be sure to look at the Members Offers & Discounts on our website. Surrey Hills Community Radio has an excellent offer for advertising at the moment, and is open to interviews with fellow Members too! S
o if you have an offer out there or wish to promote something special please do send details to
Kerry-Anne Kitson
. We are also now publicising job opportunities for Members on our News page, so please let us have your sits vacant too!
Remember that one of the challenges for all businesses as they reopen is to get the message out that they have done so, and to reassure customers that they are safe to use and operating in accordance with Government guidelines. How are you getting this message out there? If by using social media then, as a Chamber, we will support you in terms of liking, sharing, commenting or retweeting as appropriate - and please do the same for other local business and the Chamber posts!
Finally, please do promote the benefits of joining the Chamber to your business colleagues and customers. If you have a window which needs one of our posters and a Membership sticker do let us know, and we have flyers as wel,l for anyone in a position to deliver some.
