‘We’ve got to protect business’

Some small businesses across the West Midlands say they will join larger chains in asking face masks to be worn despite them no longer being compulsory in England’s indoor spaces.

But rail operators and chains such as Sainsbury’s and John Lewis have decided to keep the mask policy in place.

Herefordshire butcher, Tim Hanks, is among those to do the same.

Staff and customers at his outlet, Hanks Meat and Game in Ross-on-Wye, will be asked to wear the coverings “to protect them and our business as well”.

He said of lifting restrictions: “Personally I think it is a little bit too early.

“You speak to lots of people and everyone knows someone that’s got [the virus] and the cases just seem to be going up around here.”

He added: “There’s only a small team – we can’t afford to shut so we’ve just got to be careful and look out for one another really.”

Caroline Wickham, who owns No 13 Emporium, a vintage retail outlet and tea shop in Worcester, said she intended to offer some leeway, allowing customers and staff a choice over masks.

She said she would not enforce their use – “because I can’t”.

She told the BBC: “When [customers are] coming in browsing, they’re wearing their masks, but when they’re seated in the tea area they don’t have to wear them, so we’ve been getting a bit of both sides.”

She added it would be a matter of “personal choice” for customers, with staff also given the option.

“It will be nice to see peoples’ faces and their expressions,” she said. “It’s just nice to have that social interaction again.

“A lot of people that do come into us are an older demographic so they automatically wear one – and they will probably continue to do so.”

Emma Dixon of Ruby Tuesdays hair salon in Coventry said wearing face masks was “an important thing” for staff and customers to continue doing.

“We need to protect our families at home, our customers, and our customers’ families as well,” she said.

The salon was closed three times during the pandemic in periods totalling about 40 weeks, she explained.

“I hope [wearing a mask] won’t be permanent, but for us I’d like to make sure isolation isn’t a thing people have to do before we remove masks, because we need to keep working and our customers need to keep working,” she said.

Dr Justin Varney, Birmingham’s director of public health, said the city and the wider West Midlands region had “weathered” the Omicron variant “better than some other areas” because people had “just been sensible”.

Most people had been taking protective measures, he said, “not because there’s a fine, but just to keep everyone a little bit safer”.

He added: “The fines have gone but Covid hasn’t gone, so I hope people continue to act responsibly.”

He said behaving that way was a “common sense thing for us all to do” during “the next few weeks while Omicron is still around and until the numbers fall a lot more”.

David Sunnuck, theatre manager at the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, said he was hoping the lifting of restrictions might lead to more audience confidence, but that the venue was following industry body advice for customers to continue to wear face coverings.

“We will also continue to offer some socially-distanced performances throughout our season, for those audience members who would prefer a bit more space,” he said.

Supermarket worker Cheryl Wilson, from Madeley, Shropshire, said she was not happy with the rule relaxation, but added “it’s not our place to police it”.

She said: “Over the last ten days since [the rules change] was announced, mask-wearing has dropped off markedly.”

She added: “I think people have become ambivalent about Covid. I think they think ‘oh we’ve got vaccines and boosters now’.

“What they’re forgetting is not everyone is having the vaccines and if you do get Covid, although the majority of people are recovering, some aren’t.”