International events might happen in far off places, but they can all too easily have local consequences, as the owner of an Alston fish and chip shop — forced to close his business — can testify.
Sean Addison, 53, who hails from South Africa and has run the High Plaice on the town’s Front Street for the last three years, said all his fish had come from Russia and a lot of the rapeseed oil used in the business from Ukraine.
With the Russian invasion of Ukraine had come an increase in the price of everything. Where it had cost £165 to £167 for a case of fish, it now works out at about £240, while rapeseed oil has doubled in price from £20 for 20 litres to about £40 for the same amount.
“We have put our prices up as much as we dare and in Alston you can only put it up so much before people just can’t afford it any more,” said Sean, who is helped in the shop by Nicola Ridley.
The price of diesel has also shot up, which increases the cost of food deliveries, and the cost of energy has “gone through the roof”. Sean’s landlord had just recently put up the rent, which Sean said was not leaving him any leeway to make a profit. He had kept going for as long as he could.
Having taken over the fish and chip shop on November 1 2019, the first COVID lockdown soon followed.
“It was a bit a bit of a bad knock,” said Sean, who added that the business had not exactly had the best of luck, especially with the 15-week road closure which was then put in place outside the fish and chip shop while work was undertaken last year to replace a section of Alston’s historic cobbles.
“That was such a bad timing. It cost me a lot of money,” he said.
During lockdown all the Alston businesses got grants which helped a bit, but when it came to the road closure they did not receive a penny in support, said Sean — and they certainly did need help then.
He added: “We have been running at a loss since we came out of lockdown and I have just sort of hung on, hoping that something would break, but it is not going to.
“We are all in a bit of a bad situation now. We rely a heck of a lot on our tourism. If we don’t do well through the summer, we have a rough winter, because nothing much happens here during winter.”
Of the lack of government support for small rural communities like Alston Moor, Sean said: “It almost feels like they want front street shops and smaller businesses closing.
“We are hearing that more and more from people. Which is a scary thought. Without your small businesses, it’s a recipe for disaster.”
Sean said he was not 100 per cent sure when the final day of opening was going to be, but it was likely to be towards the end of this week.
“It’s a big loss for the town, because the chip shop has been here for a long time. It has been a chip shop since 1975.
“As I tell people, I try to keep a bit of humour about it, but I am not David Copperfield,” said Sean.
He initially came to Alston Moor in the 1980s with his mother and father and moved back to South Africa in 1989-90 following the death of his father. He has been back on the Moor for nearly six years.
Other businesses on Alston Moor have also been feeling the economic pinch of late, with the downturn having also accounted for the loss of the Alston Emporium and Once Upon a Time bookshop last month.
Last year, the owners of the town’s Blueberrys Cafe said they had survived COVID by using their savings to keep them afloat. But, unfortunately, due to the road closure, which had hit them hard, they could no longer carry on.
“I do believe that there will be others that are going to close in the near future,” said Sean.
