Flood-hit Welsh town seeks clarity amid coronavirus lockdown 'uncertainty'

  • Words and video report by ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn

If there is one thing business owners crave it’s certainty but if there’s one thing politicians struggle to provide it is a guarantee of what the future holds.

In the grip of lockdown and a further three weeks confirmed the cost to the community is rising.

Treorchy in South Wales is a town on the up but it’s progress is on hold. As everyone here is keen to remind you it’s the “uncertainty” that is troubling.

Celebrations of a recent GB high street of the year win have been postponed and all they can do is wait and work out how to keep trading.

Adrian Emmett is landlord of The Lion pub and head of the town’s chamber of trade. You sense he rallies businesses and they respond.

He’s helped set-up an App connecting businesses with customers even those that are currently closed.

As he says it’s a case of making what you can of a difficult situation “we’re all in the same boat that’s the only thing you can take out of this there’s no competitive advantage with anyone we’ve all got to knuckle down together as a community and support each other”.

Treorchy in South Wales was flooded earlier this year. Credit: ITV News

Hollie Thomas is 20 and been running her gift shop for 2 years. She grew up in a family run shop on the high street and despite having seen it all she’s concerned "hopefully it’s only going to be for another 3 weeks but then if people don’t stick to the guidelines its obviously going to be longer that means longer with our business without money coming in so it is worrying".

Some of the homes here have only just dried out from the floods in February. That crisis devastated many here but the coronavirus pandemic is different… No one knows when it will end and for business that is something to fear.

Coronavirus: Everything you need to know