“You’ve got to adapt” - Businesses in Calderdale showing their can-do spirit in challenging times

The Piece Hall will be operating a click and collect service for its tenants, where goods ordered online will be collected in a socially distanced and safe manner from a designated collection point within The Piece Hall courtyard.

To offer the service, the building will remain partly open from Thursday to Sunday between 10am and 2pm.

Customers will also be able to enjoy a stroll around the courtyard during these opening times and The Piece Hall Deli will serve takeaway non-alcoholic drinks and food. Sustainable food retail outlet Just Gaia will also remain open to customers as an essential shop.

Nicky Chance-Thompson DL, CEO of The Piece Hall Trust, said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit from our brilliant tenants as a response to our idea.

“We’ve worked closely with them, and our technology partners, to put in place a fast track solution to help keep The Piece Hall shopping experience open and provide income for the shops that are based here.

“Christmas is a really important time for retailers, and we also wanted to be open in a safe way for the communities we serve.

“Customers can virtually browse their favourite shops and come to collect their shopping or simply use our space to relax and unwind in a safe, outdoor setting.”

Nick Jones, owner of the Off The Wall gallery in the Piece Hall, said: “I’m hoping during the next three weeks that people make contact and I can go into the shop and talk them through what I’ve got.

“They can either pick up their orders through the Piece Hall, or if they’re local, I’m happy to deliver. Or I can post things.

“For any shop like mine this is a key period of trade. Last year, November and the first part of December were my best trading weeks of the year, so to lose them is financially not great.

“The Piece Hall is being very helpful and we’re all trying to find ways of getting through this and enabling people to carry on shopping with us.

“It would be unrealistic to expect the level of business I would do normally at this time of year but if I can even do 10 per cent of that then that enables me to keep ticking over at least.”

Catch Seafood in West Vale will offer delivery services every day throughout lockdown.

The takeaway service will be open seven days a week and customers can pre order a delivery or collection slot via the website, or order in the takeaway.

Managing director Sarah Stuttle said: “All our restaurants have seen great support from the local area despite the challenges we’ve faced as an industry due to the pandemic.

“We hope that, by offering takeaway service with collection and delivery options, customers can make lockdown a little bit better with some classic British fish and chips.”

Several other restaurants in Calderdale are offering a delivery or takeaway service during lockdown, including 22 The Square, The Moorlands Inn, Sapore, The Prospect, Pride and Provenance, Cafe Thai and Franganos.  

Prestige Flowers gift shop in Halifax have launched virtual live shows over lockdown.

The live shows will have giveaways to help families who might struggle to afford  gifts for family or loved ones, as well as competitions, Christmas workshops and gift guides, tree decorating, family activities, games and quizzes.

The business is also offering contactless delivery.Store manager Ivan Amaral said: “It’s difficult for everyone who has had to close their doors in these uncertain times.”We wanted to reach out to our community with fun-filled activities for all the family, direct from our gift shop.

“We will be broadcasting fun-filled shows three times a week to keep the festive spirits up the best way we know how.”

The shows will be broadcast at 2pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday throughout lockdown on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Engine restaurant in Sowerby Bridge offers customers Engine at Home, a box of tapas dishes that can be heated up at home, with a different menu each week.

Mark Kemp, who runs the restaurant with his business partner Will Ackroyd, said: “We’re doing really well, we’ve got up to 83 boxes last week.

“I ordered a load of wine for the boxes and thought that it would last for three weeks easily. My ideal was to do 30 a week and I’d be happy with that so I couldn’t believe it, I was like ‘all my wine’s gone!’

“My wife came up with the idea. We had a look around at places who were doing it before us.

“It started off quite slowly but we persevered because you just don’t know what’s going to happen, it changes week-to-week with the lockdown and the tier systems.

“You’ve got to adapt. We have bills to pay so you can’t just sit pretty, you have to think quickly.

“Will said: “You’ve got to just take it as it is. There’s no point getting upset about it, you’ve just got to make changes to the way you work and see if you can make the best out of a bad situation.

“You’ve got to adapt to what you can do in these times.

“So we’re focusing on our Engine at home boxes. You can pop it in the fridge and warm it up, it’s all pre-cooked.

“Last week was the most popular yet.

“We’ve got an amazingly loyal customer base who have supported us and they still want the Engine experience, but now we can drop it to them on their own doorstep.”

Jo Wilson is one of the business partners at the Hare and Hounds pub in Hipperholme.

She said: “We’ve got takeaways such as burgers, giant yorkshire puddings and English pub classics, Wednesday to Saturday.

“We’re also doing afternoon tea on Saturdays as a takeaway, which is all homemade, and then on Sundays we have our Sunday roasts, including ox cheek and lamb shank, which are really popular.

“We’re also doing the Pig Out, which includes belly pork, pigs-in-blankets and crackling.

“We had it in the offering anyway because a lot of our customers are shielding so we were already doing eat-in and takeaway, but now obviously it’s just takeaway.

“We’re waiting for clarification from the council whether we can sell alcohol as a takeaway. It says we are not allowed on the Government website but we haven’t had any clarification.

“But the more miserable you get, the more you get into the mindset of ‘this is never going to work’ then it won’t, you’ve got to be positive.

“We’ve got a really good team of five people who are all working really hard together to survive, to keep going and to stay positive.

“We had a lot of people here on Wednesday last week, the last day before the lockdown, who came in to support us to eat and drink.

“A lot of them said ‘we’re here to support you, we wouldn’t normally go out on a Wednesday, but we want you to be here when lockdown finishes’.”
Joseph Farrar, general manager of Holdsworth House Hotel, said: “Things are slightly different for us this time around. As hotels are still allowed to stay open for essential business we are open, only to accommodate the film crews which are currently in the area finishing off their production so at least the building still has some life in it each day.

“We are also using this time for essential maintenance and work so that when we are able to open back up fully and operate as normal our guests will see the differences that we have been able to make with this second lockdown.

“We were inundated with requests during the first lockdown to offer our afternoon tea as a takeaway and we were just not able to do it, this time however we are very pleased to say that we are offering this seven days a week!

“Lockdown one was tough and we know lockdown two will also be difficult but we have a fantastic team here at Holdsworth House and every single one of them has worked tirelessly for the last four months to make sure our reopening was a success, and it was. It is now time for them to have a well earned break, although a break they did not want, and get ready to see what December will throw at us.”