It was great to join local Chair of Cobham Chamber of Commerce, Alistair Mann, for a tour of Cobham High Street earlier today, continuing the series of visits I’ve been making to businesses across the borough.
First, Alistair and I dropped into Gordon Marks. This is a really impressive jewellery and furniture business, which counts the Royal Household among its customer base. Next we moved on to Farrants, a newsagent and tobacconist which also sells sweets and toys. Farrants has been open since 1896 and it was good to hear that it supplied a local care home with hand sanitiser earlier in the year. We then visited the health food shop Energetic Health (which also sourced and supplied hand sanitiser), Moonflower florists (which moved to a home delivery system during lockdown), and Café Fego, which also reinvented itself as a delivery and takeaway business when it wasn’t able to open. Finally, we stopped by Stoneleigh butcher’s and Evie Loves Toast, a boutique gift shop. Both are the kind of brilliant, independent local businesses that make Cobham High Street such a great place.
Cobham businesses have made heroic efforts to adapt to Coronavirus. They’ve shown real ingenuity, allowing them to keep welcoming customers in a safe manner. There was plenty of positive feedback on the government’s economic support, and it was encouraging to hear how many businesses had accessed the various schemes on offer. As we continue the national effort to beat Coronavirus, I’ll keep making sure that local businesses have the support they need to weather very tough times and bounce back.
