Tadcaster shop owner says closing ‘feels like a bereavement’

Mrs Cooper, who ran the shop for three years, said not only had electricity costs been crippling, but low footfall had not helped.

She wants to see the government give small businesses grants to help during these challenging times.

“Not grants where we have to match the funding, it needs to be a bailout grant, especially for areas like mine because the footfall isn’t there and we still have bills to pay.”

Mrs Cooper has decided to take her business on the road and go mobile, doing craft clubs for local schools, which she has already been trialling.

“I think having any kind of bricks and mortar, whether you are a creative person or a restaurant, it’s just too difficult, the overheads are just too much.”

Mrs Cooper’s story is not uncommon, with a growing number of small businesses unable to cope with rising costs and low footfall, forcing them to either go mobile or sell their products online.

The latest government data, external shows that in the last four years there has been a drop in the number of small businesses (0-49 employees) – from 5.94m in 2020 to 5.45m in 2024.