Life after lockdown in Washington Village - Independent businesses booming as community returns to village

Washington Village, or ‘The Village’ as it is known to most, stood eerily quiet during lockdown.

But now the green is busy as people have flocked back to visit the area’s popular businesses.

Although ‘The Village’ is far smaller than most town centres, the quaint area around the green is an attractive destination to visit for people from all across Washington and beyond.

Wayne and Kelly Kennedy run both The Green florist and tea room, in the former village library, and The Forge restaurant on the other side of the village green.

The couple have been taken aback by the support they have received from the community, especially on social media.

"It has been a really positive experience for us,” said Wayne.

"We did not realise what people thought about us until lockdown but we found out when more and more people were contacting us, asking when we would be reopening.

"What we found was how much people missed us. People wanted us to be there.”

With new social distancing measures and steps to protect staff and customers, Wayne and Kelly carried out staggered openings of both their businesses to ensure everything went according to plan.

"It has been better than expected,” said Wayne.

"Having a life is something people have missed. I think people are just looking for somewhere to go to get back to normality.”

The Cross Keys pub which overlooks the green, changed hands during lockdown, but the new landlady said she has been welcomed to the village pub.

Kimberley Cheetham said: "It has been great.

"People are obeying the rules. Even if some of the rules seem a bit mental, people have still been behaving themselves and a lot of the regulars have come back.”

Just round the corner in Spout Lane, Vinyl restaurant and cafe has been running a takeaway and delivery service over the summer but owner Conor Snary is already looking forward to reopening completely in September.

Conor said: "We reopened on July 4 and it has been really good.

"We have been very busy and we have had a lot of support from the local community. It is going really well

"We are looking at reopening fully in September with social distancing in place. We just want to make sure all the staff are safe – that is the first priority.”

Next door at Fifty Shades hair and beauty, staff have been delighted to return to business – well, most of them anyway.

"Our beautician was ill at the thought of coming back at first, but otherwise, all of us were just excited,” said stylist Vicky Hedley.

"At first, it was as busy as Christmas, but now it is pretty much back to normal.”

"Most of the regulars are back and the ones who have not, we are still in touch with. They are coming back but they are just nervous about doing so at the moment."

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Sunderland Echo website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here. Thank you.