Landlords reeling after coronavirus shutdown enforced
The impact of the shutdown of pubs and restaurants in Shropshire and Mid Wales is beginning to hit home.
Landlords and owners of eating establishments say they simply do not know how they will survive the financial effects of seeing their businesses closed overnight.
But they say knowing their staff will be paid by the government is a huge relief.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the dramatic closing down of the hospitality and entertainment sectors amid fears the NHS will be overwhelmed unless the Covid-19 outbreak is checked.
Lois Lagoyianni runs the Red Lion in Ellesmere with Simon Metcalfe. Licensee for four years she has worked there for more than 20.
"Our worry has always been for the staff," she said.
"We were so relieved on Friday when the Government said they would be paying their wages. They are like family to us and knowing they will get wages is a huge weight of my mind."
She said she could not even begin to estimate how much the Red Lion has already lost.
"It is not just the pub and restaurant but the hotel as well," she said.
"We have had so many cancellations."
"I don't think much that the government has said it will do to help businesses will help us. I am certainly not going down the line of taking out a loan, we don't even know what the interest rate will be yet.
"We will still be doing take aways, but just myself and one member of staff will be cooking and we will be extra stringent with hygiene. And I will be spending time with the children."
"This will be the first Mother's Day that I have ever had off and I am going to spend it with the kids and my mum."
Angie Roberts has been the licensee at the Dog and Pheasant in Castlefields, Shrewsbury, for 23 months.
"I think I am in shock, I am numb," she said.
"It is a horrible feeling, I feel totally lost," she said.
"My husband is a plasterer and his work is drying up. His son is a chef, my daughter is a beautician, so we are bascially a family with no income coming in at the moment."
Despite her own predicament Angie is more worried about the community.
"We have all just got to pull together, help each other," she said.
"Our ladies' darts team raised money to help Shrewsbury's flood victims. But now we have decided to use that money to help those in need because of the virus. We are buying food and getting it to those in real need."
George Miah has had to shut his restaurant The Simla in Oswestry, for the first time in 43 years.
"We are still doing takeaways. I hope I can keep my staff," he said.
In Shrewsbury Town Centre the Montgomery's Tower pub donated all its leftover food to the Shrewsbury Food Hub. It said it would be sharing it between The Ark and the Food Bank.
The Monkey Puzzle cafe in Welshpool has teamed up with Tony Brooks of Brooks Cycles to offer food delivery with a difference.
Mr Brooks said: "Anyone who lives within a three mile radius of the Monkey Puzzle who orders food from them can get it delivered by myself on our delivery bike. It is keeping air pollution down and helping people who cannot get out themselves."
