Time to start preparing for potentially harsh winter

Vincent Page, of Antiques on High, celebrates one year in business. Picture: Antiques on High (Image: Archant)

As a bumper week draws to a close, some may consider it a long time coming, but maybe business owners should be starting to plan ahead for the winter months, ensuring our premises are warm and inviting for our customers.

The first fully blown Folk Week since the summer of 2019 has lived up to the anticipation and expectation and quite rightly so for many hardened Folk Festival goers who have missed out due to Covid. With endless pictures being posted on social media of everyone’s favorite act or event life almost feels normal again.

For many full time businesses in the town there’s no doubt it’s been a long year which has been compounded by a colossal increase in fuel prices restricting the amount people have to spend and indeed restricting the amount of people who venture out to Sidmouth, although once the central heating needs to be fired up with the equally outrageous increase in gas and electricity prices it may prove to be cheaper to visit the town than stay at home with all the heating on. Now there’s a thought.

But if that turns out to be the case, are we ready?

Much is made of the need for businesses to reduce their carbon footprint and a few basic principles can be applied but realistically its common sense and inevitably some benefits require an initial outlay, if you can’t afford it then quite simply you can’t afford it. L.E.D. Lighting is an obvious choice, easy to fit and as we have found, will effectively halve your electricity bill and provide a much easier light on your eyes.

Whilst many people who run a business are offended at the thought of suggestions as to how to make their business more effective it is simply human nature to feel that you know what you are doing within your chosen sector and taking the view that your stock prices need to increase to cover increasing costs can in some cases be a very short-term view, sometimes the question is not can I afford to do it?, but can I afford not to do it?