THE team in charge of a popular Old Town pub told of the toll that this tough year has taken on them.

Constant uncertainty, weeks of closures and a lack of support caused sleepless nights and a lot of stress for Jamie Stapleton, Ed Dyer and Linda Guildford.

Jamie signed Linda off work until she felt ready to return because, he said, "she's been unable to function well enough to be a productive staff member because this has been so personally challenging."

Ed added: “It’s been very worrying. We have not known from one week to the next what the following week would bring and whether there will be a change of policy or support incoming.

“That has been the biggest problem for us. We tried to be as flexible as possible but things suddenly change, you have to change direction and each time that costs money, effort, time, years off my life...

"It’s all been so difficult because there has not been a clear roadmap and everything's so last-minute and sudden. The lack of financial support when we’re told to close our business has been hard to stomach.”

Jamie added: “We fully understand that we’re lucky to have what we have as a business and we’re certainly not the worst off in society through this, but the toll it’s taken on us as individuals in terms of mental health has been hard.

“We do feel that the hospitality industry has been made a scapegoat. We are not able to open despite all the measures we put in place and the hard graft that we’ve done to make it as Covid-safe as possible.

"We’re not viable but you can wander round shops like B&M Bargains – just an example, there are many others like them - handling things many other people have touched where social distancing is not really adhered to.

“Why are we unviable but that is? We’re working hard to make sure we are viable but keep having the rug pulled from under us. I have not slept properly for weeks and weeks."

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Bridget Phillipson MP visited Swindon virtually for Small Business Saturday and spoke to the Tuppenny team to to get a better idea of what they have dealt with and the help they need.

Ed added: “I’ve had a few conversations with our own MP. This has been an entirely more positive event. It’s been nice to have somebody take the time to listen to my bellyaching and take on board the problems we are facing.

"I’ve been shouting into the void for months now so it’s nice to actually get to some ears. Hopefully it will start to make a difference. We need to make these changes now so that we can hit the ground running.

“I really appreciate the platform, I’m happy to help and see if we can make some improvements to the situation for a lot of small businesses.”