Yahoo News A postcard from Wales, as it teeters on the edge of national depression
The harsh reality of winter in lockdown has hit in Wales, where locals are weary and worried about the future
In the Brecon Beacons the autumn leaves are falling and the rust-gold peaks remind of the season’s beauty. Since the fire break lockdown began on Friday October 23, the weather has brought torrential downpours, high winds, even the odd rainbow – but few clouds with silver linings. Like the skies, the mood is sombre. Winter is coming and there’s no way of knowing what it will bring.
The bubble of optimism that held businesses in Wales afloat during the first lockdown has popped, leaving people weary and worried about the future. They renovated and reduced capacity, set up marquees and followed strict guidelines to be Covid-secure, yet here they are – back where they started in March. Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? What about Christmas? And, more pressingly, will they survive to see 2021 without more government support?
It is half-term, but the roads in the Brecon Beacons are eerily quiet. The car parks in the National Park are empty. Hotels have had to cancel bookings at the last minute, with no hope of recompense. Pubs at the heart of rural communities are shuttered up – some have closed indefinitely, unwilling to face a potentially soul-destroying winter. Police are patrolling the borders – even the minor ones, snuffing out the chance of sneaking in through the Forest of Dean.
“I understand that the first minister wants to stop the spread of the virus but this fire break is a blunt instrument: it is strangling the economy,” says James Suter, owner of Gliffaes, a luxury Victorian country house hotel near Crickhowell. “We spent money making things safe, with staff wearing masks and the bar shutting at 10pm, but we are being put in the same bracket as a rowdy pub in the middle of the Valleys. We’ve now lost the half-term business and I’ve still got to pay my staff. And it’s becoming like former East Germany, with the government saying what we can and can’t buy, neighbours watching each other.”
While first minister Mark Drakeford urges the country to “see the bigger picture” and stay at home until November 9, the consensus seems to be that another countrywide lockdown is a step too far. While there is no denying the need to control the surge in cases, with 1,158 positive cases and six deaths confirmed in Wales on Monday 26 October, many feel that a tiered regional system would have been fairer, with stricter enforcements in locked-down areas.
Sarah Locke, owner of Welsh Glamping in Abergwesyn on the edge of the Cambrian Mountains in remotest Powys, echoes this sentiment. “Losing the half-term weeks has been devastating. Last week I cancelled £4,000 worth of bookings. We opened on 14 August this year and had just a few weeks of business, and no initial grant because we were new. Powys has a low infection rate yet we are being tarred with the same brush as the rest of Wales. It is greatly unfair and there is no clear exit strategy.”
In deeper Mid Wales, Amelia Eiriksson, creative director at Michelin-starred Ynyshir in Machynlleth underlines the uncertainty the travel and hospitality and industry is facing. “We were on track to have our best year ever but will just about break even. We’ve been open seven weeks since the first lockdown and have had to reschedule bookings time and again. My concern is that it won’t even work, with the situation in North Wales being a case in point.”
Back in Defynnog in the Brecon Beacons, Roos Geraedts, owner of the International Welsh Rarebit Centre, expresses concern for the future. “The uncertainty is horrible,” she says. “Like much of Wales, this region relies upon tourism. I feel we are losing momentum as a growing business. The lack of hotel bookings in the area has a direct knock-on effect and I expect to see a slump after the fire break. I can see why they chose to do this at half-term, given the mad rush we saw in summer and infection rising, but for the economy the timing was unfortunate. Government hand-outs have been measly.”
In the local news, the debate about non-essential items rages on – booze, yes, baby clothes, no – and there is the sense that the government is missing the point, if not losing the plot.
For now, however, the country remains firmly closed. And all the while, bubbling under the surface, is the worry that this lockdown will not be the last. Is the fire break “a short, sharp shock to turn back the clock” as Mark Drakeford described, or is it a hammer blow from which the Welsh tourism industry will never recover?
