The healing powers of CHELTENHAM

Generations of visitors came to recuperate in the spa town’s beneficial waters. Now it’s our own High Street that needs care and attention, says Tracy Spiers

Our high streets have been eerily quiet. While we have been in lockdown, wildlife has been liberated and instead of people, our shopping centers have been visited by a variety of animals including sheep and deer. As life starts returning to shopping centers, there’s no doubt the landscape has changed and there will, unfortunately, be shops that won’t reopen. Yet whilst the High Street may have been shaken, every effort is being made to ensure it not only remains but thrives.

In Gloucestershire, much work has been going on behind the scenes to help Cheltenham’s High Street get back on its feet. During the lockdown, about 30 shops in the Regency spa town have remained open to provide essential supplies and services, which include banks, chemists, supermarkets, food halls, and takeaways.

Kevan Blackadder, Director for BID (Business Improvement District) in Cheltenham, one of 300 business-led partnerships nationwide, says every effort is being made to prepare and support businesses in this unprecedented time. In Cheltenham, the BID works on behalf of 600 businesses in the town.

“We have been doing a checklist of what shops need to put in place in terms of health and safety, preparing their shop space and staff for reopening. This has included making sure they know where they can get enough PPE, hand sanitizers, and so on and a list of places they can get stock from,” says Kevan.

“We have also been encouraging them with marketing. The last thing they want is to open and for people not to be aware of it. We have run a number of Zoom calls and have encouraged businesses to contact their existing customers to let them know when they are open.”