This is what people had to say about Nottinghamshire gyms and salons reopening in Tier 3

As Mansfield and Ashfield businesses were plunged into lockdown, many small businesses were forced to close once again.

With the government announcing a u-turn on what would be classed as an ‘essential’ business in all tiers, many gyms and salons reopened their doors today for the first time in more than a month.

Steve Sheppard owns Performance 360, a personal training gym based in Mansfield, and has spoken to the Chad about how it feels to reopen in Tier 3.

He explained: “It’s just feels like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders.

"To see how happy our clients are when they walk through the door just shows how important we actually are.

"Creating an overall physical and also positive mental experience is what drives us.

"Each client we work with deserves a world class service to help them move forward, and that’s what we are trying to provide.

"Even though lockdown 2.0 has not been great, we have come out better than before and we are carrying that momentum into 2021.”

Dave Kemp visited Your Space gym on Portland Street in Mansfield, and was pleased with how safe it felt for his first training session back.

He said: “It was so nice to be back and great the government made the right decision about gyms.

"There were excellent safety measures in place and it was great to see so many happy faces.

"I needed the session for my own mental health and obviously to try and maintain a level of fitness – the gym is my happy place.”

Paula Riley owns Creative Cutting Hair And Beauty Studio on Outram Street in Sutton-in-Ashfield.

The salon reopened today for bookings and said the telephones had ‘not stopped ringing’.

She explained: “We’re back open today to prepare for a great December.

"We are back open fully tomorrow, but the phones have not stopped ringing today – it’s so good to be back.”

Victoria Melling runs Furnish Your Interior within Booth’s Furniture Store on Churchside in Mansfield and said the town centre had a great community feel to it today in light of the sad news that Debenhams would be closing.

She said: “We’ve been busy today, people have been coming in saying how pleased they were that we are back open, and lots of customers were saying they wanted to make sure they supported local shops.

"That felt great as it is a real worry.”

Sophia Barlow opened Angelite Hair on White Hart Street in July, in the middle of the pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped her pushing forward with her business.

Having used the second lockdown to complete training in hair extensions and taking on two new members of staff, she is thrilled to be extremely busy.

She said: “We are fully booked now until Christmas Day with no days off at all, so I had to take on more staff.

"We are super busy and loving seeing all of our clients, we’re so happy to be back.”

Labour Group leader says government’s ‘dithering inaction’ left us languishing in Tier 3

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