Burnham-On-Sea shop owners have spoken out strongly against a campaign encouraging them to unlawfully re-open on January 30th despite the national lockdown.
Flyers, pictured below, have been posted anonymously through the letterboxes of shops in Burnham town centre, inviting the owners to break the current safety restrictions and re-open.
The flyers state: “The great re-opening! January 30th 2021. There is a growing movement on Twitter made up of small businesses prepared to open up for business on Jan 30th. If you face ruin, you have nothing to lose. Good luck.”
They also reference a national Facebook campaign page and a Twitter tag, both of which we have decided not to publish and which have been removed from the photo of the flyer below.
Local shop owners who are part of a social media group called Burnham Retail Group last night issued a statement: “As a group of small businesses in Burnham, we are disgusted and appalled to have received these flyers encouraging shops to unlawfully re-open on January 30th despite the national lockdown.”
“The health and wellbeing of people in our community is the top priority at this time and we are fully united in saying we would not contravene the Government’s restrictions which are currently rightly in place. Those shops in Burnham which are currently closed will only re-open when the national guidelines allow them to safely do so.”
A spokesperson for Burnham Chamber of Trade adds: “Burnham’s business community, supported by the Chamber, is strongly opposed to any campaign that encourages them to break the lockdown rules and unlawfully re-open.”
“While many small businesses are struggling in these very challenging times, we must stand firm and ensure that the health of shop staff, customers and the wider community is not jeopardised.”
“We look forward to the time later in the year when Burnham’s town centre can fully re-open as part of the Government’s relaxing of the restrictions.”
