Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, May 2021: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s reopened window on the shop windows

For the third time this year, our window on the Tameside shop windows has been delayed. Once again we have deferred this month’s edition to tie in with this coming Monday’s events. Confused? Well you shouldn’t be, because on Monday 17 May 2021, our pubs and cafés will be fully opened. Hurrah for being able to eat and drink inside again.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, April 2021: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s reopened window on the shop windows

For the second time this year, our window on the Tameside shop windows has been delayed. There is a good reason for this, we have deferred this month’s edition to tie in with this coming Monday’s events. Confused? Well you shouldn’t be, because on Monday 12 April 2021, non-essential retail premises will be reopening across the UK. Also our pubs and restaurants – well, the forecourts and gardens of our licensed premises – of those which have Beer Gardens.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, March 2021: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-reopened window on the shop windows

This month will see some sense of normality returning to our High Streets – or at least plans pointing us towards a sense of normality. The first part of this post-pandemic ‘reopening’ will begin with our schools. According to the Government’s Roadmap, non-essential retail businesses will be able to reopen from the 12 April 2021 at the earliest, as will public houses with beer gardens.

In the last month, COVID-19 cases rose for a bit in Tameside before going down in the last week. What effect will the schools reopening have on cases in the next month?

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, February 2021: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-reopened (AND SLIGHTLY LATE RUNNING) window on the shop windows

As we speak, we are now into the second month of what is our third lockdown in England. Once again, non-essential retail premises remain closed, as do our public houses. With recent good news on the COVID-19 vaccines and a drop in the R rate, the odds on our non-essential shops reopening are shortening (or so we think).

Across the UK, the last month has been pretty grim for the High Street with the loss of some iconic retail names. How much of this will affect Tameside?

The Essentials on Essential Shops: Ashton Review of Shops Extra

What are non-essential shops and what are essential shops?

Within the last two days, the whole of England has fallen in to a third lockdown. Though cases and hospital admissions are lower than the English average in Tameside, its recent rise in cases is a cause for concern. Lockdown 3.0 is expected to last till mid-February, though some cabinet ministers have hinted at lasting till March.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, January 2021: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-reopened window on the shop windows

We hope our regular readers, old and new, have a Happy New Year. What we mustn’t lose sight of is the fact 2021 could be another bumpy one. The end of this year could see the loss of a few familiar High Street names. We might get to have a pub pint by then!

On New Year’s Eve, more parts of England fell under Tier 4, which means the closure of non-essential retail premises. This is due to another more contagious mutation of COVID-19 first seen in the South East of England. Our City Region also fell into Tier 4, which means travel for essential means, such as exercising or shopping for much-needed items.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, December 2020: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-reopened window on the shop windows

At this time of writing, four days have passed since the second lockdown. Greater Manchester is back in Tier 3, which in layperson’s terms is a watered-down version of the lockdown we came out of earlier. It means, for at least a fortnight (best case scenario), we cannot go to the pub.

Across the UK, the prognosis for wet-led pubs (which makes up a substantial chunk of Tameside’s licensed premises) and bricks and mortar stores is very grim.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, November 2020: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s bare essentials only window on the shop windows

A lot has happened in the last month to our bars and retail premises. Thanks to the second wave of COVID-19 cases, we are now in the midst of a second lockdown. It is anticipated that England’s circuit-breaking lockdown would last until the 02 December.

In Tameside, along with the other nine boroughs that make up Greater Manchester, we had been in Tier 3 which has meant the closure of wet-led pubs. Since Thursday, Lockdown 2.0 (as it has been dubbed in some sources) would see the closure of non-essential shops.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, October 2020: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-quarantined window on the shop windows

Under normal circumstances, our shops will be getting ready for Christmas. Not so at this time of writing. With COVID-19 cases hitting record levels, any sense of normality may be out of the question for a year.

At the sharp end of the pandemic is our licensed premises, particularly music venues and smaller pubs (where social distancing is problematic). For over a week, our pubs have been hit by a 10pm curfew.

Retail Comings and Goings in Tameside, September 2020: The Ashton Review of Shops

This month’s semi-quarantined window on the shop windows

Has normality resumed? Well, in the last six weeks, there was some liberalisation of the lockdown conditions. Then, stricter conditions of our lockdown were imposed – announced only hours before coming into force. Our neighbours in Oldham had even stricter conditions imposed, some 300 yards short of a full lockdown.

On the other hand, football has returned to our borough, albeit with the loss of one of Tameside’s most formidable teams. Plus we got a new bus station.