We couldn't afford to close for the Queen's funeral

The cost of living crisis through the eyes of those struggling on one Greater Manchester High Street

- DAMON WIKINSON

GORDON Conway says he's always been a workaholic. It's a good job too, because at the minute he's doing 15 hour days, six days a week.

Gordon, 48, owns The Malaga Drift Coffee Company, a small cafe bar on Church Street in Eccles. But at the minute things are so tight he can't afford to employ anybody else.

"I can't afford staff," says Gordon, 48. "I have to be cheaper than Starbucks and Costa, but they can buy in bulk, they can own their premises - the only thing I can do is cut staff, so I have to do it myself."

Gordon, who spent most of his working life in logistics before opening up the cafe about six years ago, says luckily his energy bills are locked in until next summer. But the cost of everything else is soaring and he can't risk putting his prices up because he 'wouldn't have any customers left!

"Business is slow," he said. "It's down 20 per cent since Covid. You can tell people are cutting back. They're not going out as much.

"I try to spend as little as I can, which is fairly easy because I'm at work all the time. But I'm living so cheaply at the minute it's ridiculous."

On Wednesday Liz Truss unveiled a six-month plan, starting in October, to pay about half of energy bills for businesses. It will undoubtedly help, but as Gordon says if your gas and electric bills have trebled in the last few months, you'll still be considerably worse off than you were this time last year.