Croydon pub leads national fight to allow more businesses access to government grants during coronavirus outbreak

By Tara O’Connor, Local democracy Reporter

Many struggling businesses in Croydon have been unable to get government grants during the coronavirus pandemic, it has been revealed.

Surrey Street pub Mr Fox is one of them.

It closed its doors on March 20 when ordered to by the government.

And now owner Andrew Taylor, along with the Croydon BID (Business Improvement District), is leading a national fight for increased access to government grants.

At the moment, the £25,000 grants are only available to businesses with a ‘rateable value’ of up to £51,000, excluding many independent enterprises in Croydon.

But Mr Fox – like many pubs and shops in Croydon – has a rateable value of £55,000. Now its managers want to see the threshold increased to £150,000.

It’s a similar story all around the town centre, including at Matthews Yard, which has a rateable value of £52,500 and is now relying on the generosity of Croydon residents to keep afloat while it is not able to trade.

Andrew, who runs Mr Fox with girlfriend Aiste Bart, said he has never been involved in a political campaign before.

On Wednesday the Raise the Bar campaign was raised in Parliament at Prime Ministers Question Time, and it has been supported by industry-wide bodies that represent more than 100,000 businesses across the UK.

Andrew said: “Mr Fox missed out on the grants and my thought was “we can’t be the only business that has”.

“It wouldn’t solve all our problems, but it would help. I think we are looking at a lockdown until at least the end of September.

“Consumer confidence is going to be at an all-time low with people saying they won’t frequent bars and restaurants.

“All these things add up to why it is important to save hospitality and retail in Croydon.”

All 11 full-time staff at Mr Fox have been furloughed, and the business is relying on money from takeaways to pay its rent.

But despite all this, by the end of this week Andrew and Aiste will have cooked an incredible 3,000 meals for NHS staff at local hospitals.

It all started on Mother’s Day when they decided to send Sunday roasts to Croydon University Hospital.

Over the past month, local businesses have donated money to make it possible to continue doing this. Now Mr Fox’s cooks are feeding staff at St Helier Hospital and Orpington Hospital – and the staff have plans to take meals to Kingston Hospital, too.

Mr Fox has been open for just over a year, and Andrew had plans to open a pizzeria in Surrey Street this year, but that will now be pushed back to 2021.

Andrew, who is originally from Newcastle, added: “We love Croydon, there is a community here that isn’t like other places.

“We will be able to reopen but my main concern is that without the government support it would mean everything we’ve achieved over the past 14 months would be wiped.”

It is thanks to the work of the Croydon BID that this campaign has spread across the UK, but chief executive Matthew Sims acknowledged that increasing the threshold to £150,000 would be a burden on local and central government.

But he said: “This is a price we believe is worth paying to ensure businesses are given the opportunity to become part of the greater push to mobilise our economy, rather than leaving premises empty, growing unemployment with or without the job retention scheme and sectors contracting across the board”.

The campaign can be found here.

Pictured top: Andrew Taylor with his girlfriend – and business partner – Aiste Bart