Category Archives: Business

Abingdon Town Centre is mostly open for business

The majority of businesses in Abingdon Town Centre have reopened since the lockdown.

Three Greene King pubs remain closed. Hearsay, on facebook, has it that new tenants will be managing them.
Pubs not opened yet
The blinds are down at the Black Swan. A full skip at the back shows there is work going on inside.
Pubs not opened yet
The blinds are down at the Punchbowl, although I saw lights inside
Pubs not opened yet
At the Broad Face there is not even the ghost of a hanged man in the dark inside.

A few shops remain closed. They include the large clothing shop, Peacocks, and the travel agents, Tui. Two charity shops, Oxfam and Sue Ryder, remain closed. Their risk assessments may well say that their elderly volunteers are still too vulnerable.

The Lounge Cafe has a notice saying they will reopen at the end of July.

Post Office Queue stretches to Belinda’s Jewellery Box

Post Office Queue
From the Co-op door in Abingdon, people queuing for the post office went as far as the door to Belinda’s Jewellery Box; people waiting for the Co-op itself queued up the other way.
Post Office Queue
From 24th July face covering will become mandatory in shops and supermarkets in England. Belinda has some face masks with a six-layer shield, using copper ions infused technology. They proved popular and sold out and she had more in the shop today. During the lockdown Belinda had plenty of time to make more craft products to sell. The art and craft workshops she used to run have not been possible yet.

Abingdon Hair, Pub and Restaurant Economy reopens

Reopening
Barbers in Abingdon town centre re-opened today and there were queues outside some, and sanitiser inside.
Reopening
Most restaurants re-opened and many had a busy evening as people could eat out for the first time in over three months. They had social distancing signs and tables kept further apart than before.
Reopening
Pubs also reopened with social distancing measures and signs. Social distancing became more difficult after a couple of drinks.

Taxis were queueing in the hope that the Abingdon night economy was open again.

New Barber + Old News

New Barber
A new barber is to open at the corner of Lombard Street and West St Helen Street.
New Barber
Newspapers from April 1st 2020 are still in the window. I thought nobody did April fools this year, but there is a Daily Mail picture of Prince Harry with a trolley load of toilet paper. Old news included:

Tough measures to clamp down on hoarders

Corona stops play: Just when you thought it couldn’t get worse, Wimbledon’s off… 

No mass, family lunch or egg hunts… How the coronavirus finished off Easter celebrations for the first time in 2,000 years

Like so many medics I’m stuck at home with just a cough. This is madness: Dr MAX PEMBERTON blasts Government over lack of coronavirus testing for NHS workers.