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CORONAVIRUS AND ITS IMPACT ON DARTMOUTH John Jones, DARTMOUTH STEAM RAILWAY AND RIVER BOAT COMPANY.
delay to the holiday season has hit many businesses especially those that
rely heavily on tourism like the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company. They would usually manage 2,000-2,500 visitors on a warm June day but this year the only thing that was running was the passenger ferry - and that was running at a loss. John Jones is the managing director: “We decided to start the ferry when the schools returned but it was more
of a gesture to the community than a money making enterprise as we were seeing about a quarter of the usual numbers use the service.” John has around 80 staff and had to furlough all but three (including himself). He says it’s been hard for the company and they have been grateful for Government grants to see them through the months of lockdown. Now they hope to claw back some much needed money when holidays start to resume. He says visitors on the steam train will notice a few changes: “We will take about 50% of passengers at first, there’ll be perspex screens between each row of seats and places will be allocated allowing for social distancing. We will also run straight through
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“We will take about 50% of passengers at first, there’ll be perspex screens between each row of seats”
from Paignton to Kingswear and back without stopping at the intermediate stations so we can run more services.” The boat trips will run at even less occupancy and the company has decided to only do its one hour Dartmouth River Cruise (they will
not yet run the Dartmouth-Totnes service). “We have watched how supermarkets have been working over lockdown and learnt a few tips. We can count numbers in and make sure all the correct signage is in place, but after that it’s up to everyone to use their common sense and socially distance accordingly. Hopefully everyone is used to it by now and things will run smoothly over, what’s left, of the summer season!” •
Neil Forshaw, THE DARTMOUTH BOUTIQUE BED AND BREAKFAST.
ccommodation providers have suffered a great deal during lockdown as, unlike
other businesses, they haven’t been able to adapt to the situation. But many, like the guys at Dartmouth Boutique B&B have embraced the quieter months using the time to spring clean and spruce up. Neil Forshaw says life has been quite hectic: “We had a new boiler fitted and replaced a flat roof - actually it’s been quite handy not having guests around!” He and his partner also spent time ringing regular guests just to chat and to let them know they’re still here and will be open for business soon. “We were able to postpone most of our bookings which was good and everyone has been very understanding. We can’t complain really, our business
“People are excited to return and some are treating themselves to more expensive rooms and longer breaks because they’ve been so fed up stuck in the same four walls at home.”
rates have been suspended, we’ve been able to claim a small business bounce back loan and we’ve just had to cut our cloth accordingly.” Neil says getting ready for reopening wasn’t too much of a headache: “There are plenty of Government guidelines and it took awhile to pick through it all, but we keep the place exceptionally clean anyway so that part was easy. Guests will notice a difference with the way
breakfast is served, we can’t do a buffet, so it will all be table service and we will need to stagger the times people come down.” Neil says they are looking forward to seeing guests again and have fed off their enthusiasm: “People are excited to return and some are treating themselves to more expensive rooms and longer breaks because
they’ve been so fed up stuck in the same four walls at home.” The B&B has 10 rooms which are steadily getting booked up for the rest of the summer season. “We get a healthy number of foreign visitors who’re taking it slow because they aren’t too sure how they feel about travelling just yet, coupled with any travel restrictions, but I think bookings will come. The only problem is if people don’t respect the guidelines and we do see a second spike. This will hit everyone especially businesses like ours who have just about made it through this lockdown but may not survive another. We all need a good end-of- season boost.” •
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