NEWS
Free real estate helpdesk to support London’s independents Colliers International has launched a free helpdesk to provide London’s independent restaurant, retail, and leisure companies with specialist real estate advice during the COVID19 pandemic, particularly those who may not have easy access to the high level professional advice available to the bigger firms. The helpdesk will also offer guidance to landlords, and is due to be rolled out nationwide at a later stage, say Colliers. Josh Leon, head of Central London Restaurants at Colliers International, commented: “Many of London’s defining and most loved businesses are small independents run by brave, passionate and driven entrepreneurs and many of these are now at great risk. These businesses do not have big cash reserves and the financial support on offer is proving hard to access. It is a daily struggle for them. Their landlords are facing difficult decisions too. “We must do all we can to help this sector or the true cost to London is hard to imagine. We hope that by offering to be on the end of the phone with some free professional guidance on some of these issues it might at least be helpful to some. The future of London’s global appeal and the speed with
which we collectively bounce back as a city will depend on the steps entrepreneurs and landlords take now.” Colliers say that their panel of property experts will be on hand daily to provide support to occupiers and landlords, helping them to look at their options and offer property-related guidance where possible, and including areas such as general property strategy, lease and rent renegotiations, insolvency and restructuring, business rates, deferring or cancelling payments and debt advice and government assistance schemes. Colliers’ co-head of retail, Paul Souber added: “With the enforced (non-essential) shop closures the retail industry is facing an unprecedented challenge, unlike any other in living memory. “Customers are the oxygen of a store and without them, retailers can’t survive so it’s vital that we protect this industry to prevent the collapse of the sector altogether. Swift and drastic action to support the whole eco system of suppliers, retailers and landlords, is required.” Further information about Colliers’ helpdesk can be found at https://bit. ly/2yrBGBV.
200 Degrees Coffee donates materials for the protection of QMC workers 200 Degrees Coffee and members of the public have donated acetate to the Queens Medical Centre hospital (QMC) in Nottingham, to help alleviate the shortage of protective visors for NHS staff working on the front-line of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specialist medical designers in the Orthotics department at QMC turned their attentions from insole production for foot conditions to the production of vital protective equipment (acetate forms a large part of the visors which are worn by NHS staff as part of their PPE). 200 Degrees Coffee initially bought 1,000 acetate sheets and put out a plea to the public for further donations. The people of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire stepped up, bringing the total to approximately 10,000 acetate sheets which were collated at 200 Degrees’ roast house on Meadow Lane, before delivery to the QMC. Co-founder of 200 Degrees Coffee, Rob Darby, said: “In the current COVID-19 crisis the NHS are working at the coalface and
all efforts are being made to limit the spread, and to help support our NHS and the capacity at its hospitals. “The NHS is doing an incredible job of looking after us all during this pandemic and when we heard that they had limited resources on PPE, we wanted to help. The team at our local hospital, QMC, are doing an amazing job to create these visors in-house and we hope our donation can make a real difference in the effort to save lives. “A big thank you to all those who supported us and donated acetate sheets, it was brilliant to see such a huge response from other people who just want to help anyway they can.” The specialist coffee roasters and self-proclaimed coffee geeks also delivered 50 cafetieres each with a kilo of freshly ground coffee - to the Nottingham Hospitals Charity, which are now being distributed between NHS staff rooms at QMC and City Hospital in Nottingham.
teapigs add peach and mango to their cold brew range Following the success of their cold brew teas last summer, teapigs have announced the introduction of a brand new member to the range - peach & mango. Specially designed to brew quickly in cold water, teapigs cold brew is a simple, all-natural way to pep up your water this summer and make glugging your way through two litres a day an absolute breeze, claim the company. Simply pop one in your water bottle or glass and that’s it. To make it even easier to track your water goals, teapigs have teamed up with Joseph Joseph to create a brand-new cold brew starter kit, complete with a water bottle that tracks what you’re drinking. This is the ideal range to retail in the spring, feel Teapigs, when consumers are increasingly looking for low calorie, healthy drinks and the trend for reaching water goals is on the rise. “With lots of us at home at the moment – as well as getting through lots of cups of tea - people are trying to keep their water intake up. It can be a struggle to get your two litres a day and people quite often want to avoid flavoured or sugary drinks” says teapigs’ co-founder and taster, Louise Cheadle. “Our cold brew teas are an easy way to make water tastier and more interesting – you just drop a tea temple in your water bottle or glass of water and leave it for as long as you like. I quite often top my bottle up throughout the day with the same tea temple – the taste is still there” teapigs cold brew all-natural flavours feature peach & mango, lychee & rose, cucumber & apple, have no added sugar and less than three calories per 500ml serving.
THECAFELIFE.CO.UK | MAY 2020 | CAFÉ LIFE 7