Why we should all support the new 'Buy and Eat Local' Campaign

Warwickshire County Council this week launched its 'Buy and Eat Local' campaign. To support the campaign's messages, our guest columnist Lee Osborne, Development Manager, Warwickshire and Coventry Federation of Small Businesses, reflects on the importance of small and medium-sized business to our communities and the economy.

"With the right support we can ensure that small businesses stay engaged with their local communities, reach more customers and promote often vital local products and services."

The Prime Minister has compared Coronavirus to an “invisible mugger” - something that sneaks up, attacks and robs us of something precious.

There is no doubt that the virus has indeed robbed all of us. We have suddenly lost our normal way of life. Children have lost days at school. Many of us have lost our typical days at work. Our businesses have lost much-needed revenue. Most importantly, we’ve lost a lot of loved ones. The human cost of this can and never will be truly accounted for.

What we can measure is the cost to our economy. Coronavirus has forced closure of our businesses – the places we work, spend money and spend time – for over ten weeks, and the fiscal impact is already huge. Worldwide this is shaping up to be our most serious economic contraction since the global depression in 1921. In the UK, the Office for Budget Responsibility reports of a 35% fall in gross domestic product.

Locally, Warwickshire’s small and medium businesses are feeling the pinch. We have already seen articles naming Stratford upon Avon and North Warwickshire as being at significant economic risk.

From coffee shops to cafes and from independent retailers to hairdressers and beauty salons, businesses across the county would usually be seeing an upturn in sales and footfall as the weather and spending habits both warm up. For now, there are fewer open doors and ringing cash registers.

So, if we’ve been robbed by this invisible assailant, how do we move on and regain what we’ve lost?

There is no doubt that strong recovery plans will be needed to help revive the economy. Every sector and section of our county will need focused strategies which align with the Government’s easing of lockdown measures.

These will need to recognise that not all types of local business will be able to reopen and start serving the public at the same time as others. For some, particularly those hands-on businesses that will find the strongest challenge in distancing, the financial pain will become stronger as time goes on.

Most of all, what our local businesses will need is our support. When the doors of the shops, restaurants, cafes, pubs, and leisure spots we love reopen they will need us to – safely and responsibly – pick up our spending habits with them.

Therefore the new Buy and Eat Local campaign by Warwickshire County Council is really important in boosting confidence. With the right support we can ensure that small businesses stay engaged with their local communities, reach more customers and promote often vital local products and services.

Positive research from the Federation of Small Businesses shows how valued small businesses are within the community. Across the West Midlands we are seeing countless acts of kindness, volunteers and community efforts on display from small businesses and the self-employed, supporting each other to survive, recover and thrive.

Since the start of the pandemic we have seen more than half of small firms carry out community roles during the crisis, with about a third prioritising their business for the vulnerable and 20 per cent offering free home deliveries.

The survey also revealed that almost a quarter are donating provisions to food banks and 19 per cent have developed a new or increased their online presence including delivering their offering online during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Small businesses remain the backbone of the economy, pillars of local communities and crucial outlets of support. Government support has ensured that many of these businesses can either continue to trade in some way or pick up where they left off after the crisis.

That’s why it’s more important than ever to support our small businesses and shop local wherever possible, as they look to play their part in getting the local economy across Warwickshire back up and running.