London Tier 4: Croydon salon owner hasn't paid himself a wage all year to support staff through pandemic
| Published date | 21 December 2020 |
| Date | 21 December 2020 |
The capital's hair and beauty salons, along with non-essential retail, gyms, and entertainment and hospitality venues, will remain closed under Tier 4.
Even before this announcement many in the industry saw a huge reduction in trade, especially considering the Christmas period is usually one of the busiest.
It's been a tough year for businesses across London -with one Croydon salon owner not even paying himself a wage at all this year just so he could support his staff through the pandemic.
For more news and features about London directly to your inbox sign up to our newsletter here .
A number of factors contributed to this drop in custom -many clients were unsure about the rules and whether salons were even open, others didn't see the point of getting treatments done when they're not going out, and some simply can't afford the usual luxuries due to job losses and furlough.
"A lot of our clients were confused and thought that it meant we were closing, because when things reopened in the summer pubs and restaurants were allowed to open but beauty wasn't, and now it's swapped," said Lauren Williams, director at London Grace, a nail bar chain with 10 stores across London and Essex.
"I think all the different communication this year has just left people a bit confused," she added.
On top of the confusion about whether the beauty industry is even open, salons have also suffered under the strain of clients' job losses.
Peter Borg, owner of Queen B nail and beauty lounge in Croydon said: "A lot of our clients are from the hospitality industry, and obviously they're without jobs which has a massive impact.
"A lot of clients are cancelling their appointments because of fear, money, losing their jobs and so on."
Less demand for festive beauty treatments
Christmas is usually a peak period for salons, with people getting treatments for office parties, family gatherings and New Year's celebrations.
None of those celebrations are happening this year, so the usual Christmas rush was non-existent.
Joe Mills, salon owner of Joe & Co Soho and The Lounge Soho, said he saw a big drop in appointment bookings this Christmas.
"Normally, you hit November and it really starts to ramp all the way through November and December, right up until December 23rd," he said.
"This year, obviously we lost the whole of November which was a big...
To continue reading
Request your trial