How short-term high street investment can pay off – The Yorkshire Post says

This was evidenced by the heartwarming stories of shop staff returning to work and being reacquainted with their loyal customers.

It did feel like a significant step on Britain’s very tentative road to recovery – even though it would be naive of the Government to expect a sales frenzy when the economic outlook is so foreboding. And while the queues outside some department stores were significant, it is the small independent shops – the lifeblood of every high street – who will struggle more than most.

With little room inside their premises, a consequence of social distancing protocols is that some will not receive the volume of customers that they need to survive.

Some will need continuing financial assistance – and it would be in the Government’s best interests to look at this specific area of policy rather than forcing through the liberalisation of Sunday trading laws and, in doing so, enabling the major superstores and online retailers to reassert their dominance.

The reason is this. Every store closure will leave another empty building which, in turn, risks becoming a symbol of decay and decline unless an alternative use can be quickly found.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak conceded, fairly, at the weekend that his Covid-19 packages of support had not benefitted every intended recipient. He can begin his overhaul by seeing if anything more can be done to assist those successful small shops whose cashflow has been compromised.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

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Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor