To celebrate the businesses in East Hampshire, Councillor Ken Moon of East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) and East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds visited a selection on Small Business Saturday (4 December 2021).
Small Business Saturday is an annual event organised to celebrate the importance of small businesses across the nation, and to encourage residents up and down the country to support local retailers, venues and organisations.
The day started in Alton’s Market Square, hosting one of the many Christmas markets throughout December, and a visit to The Wheatsheaf pub. Michele Murton and Colin Berry explained how difficult the lockdowns had been for the hospitality sector, and the events they had organised to encourage residents to enjoy themselves when the rules had relaxed.
The theme of hospitality continued with a visit to the Nosh Café in Medstead, where Jude Ower talked about the changes the café had made to encourage custom through the pandemic – installing a pizza oven to allow for takeaways during the evenings and extending the seating area to support social distancing.
Sports clubs were also hit hard by the pandemic and had to adjust their ways of supporting the community. One such club is Four Marks Martial Arts Academy (FMMAA), which Cllr Moon and Damian Hinds visited at Four Marks Primary School. They moved their teaching to Zoom but had to give up their premises due to the ongoing costs and reduced income. They have now bought a van to transport all their equipment to the community venues they train from and are looking to have a purpose-built dojo to continue to train their future England hopefuls. At the last international competition 23 of the 50 members of the England squad came from FMMAA, and 21 of those came back with medals.
The importance of exercise was re-enforced by a visit to Right Bike (formerly Owens Cycles) in Steep, and a conversation with Owen Pattinson about the supply issues hitting the bicycle industry from the slow return to economic activity in the far east. Owen had also attended and exhibited at the COP26 East Hampshire climate event in Alton and was encouraged by the attendees’ enthusiasm to embrace all they could to protect the environment.
The theme of environmental awareness continued with a final visit of the day to Juniper refill store on Lavant Street in Petersfield. The owners, Vickie Christie and Victoria Primrose, had also exhibited at the COP26 East Hampshire event and were keen to remind the attendees that every small change a person or household can make is important. Juniper is a packaging-free refill shop and evolved from Victoria’s powerful wish to shop plastic-free locally and Vickie’s 10-year trading, environmentally conscious Real Bread and Food Company based in Froxfield.
Cllr Ken Moon, EHDC portfolio holder for Economic Development and Rural Affairs said “it was a fascinating morning listening to the owners of the many different organisations, and how they all adapted during the pandemic. I am humbled by the hard work and dedication all of our business owners have continued to demonstrate, and how ingenious they have been to make sure their clients and customers continue to enjoy working with them.”
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