UK 21:57 Friday, 23 October 2026
Breaking news and expert analysis on fast-moving AIM and LSE listed shares
My favourite Northants cheesemaker, which gets an order from me every Christmas, is closing one of the two delis it operates and says the other one is fighting for survival. I'd hope that if you are a turophile you consider buying some Cobblers Nibble cheese online in support. The second deli has only been open a year but you can see from the cobbler twitterfeed what issue was bothering management was the cost of power.
That may be changed by our new PM but the cost of so many other input costs is heading only one way and fast. Meanwhile we are all feeling the pinch as customers and consumers and fantastic artisan cheese is a discretionary spend.
How many small busineses do you know that are closing some parts of their empire, reducing opening hours, firing staff? And these layoffs and corporate deaths are not the fault of evil capitalists, management are - in most cases - entirely without fault. When this sort of thing happens to an entrepreneur it crushes the animal spirit. It is not just about losing money, it is the pain of shedding staff who have often become friends or of telling suppliers that they have also lost a customer knowing that they too are fighting for survival and this pushes them closer to the edge. I reckon that even if the economy booms and a great venue comes up the cobblers nibble team will be reluctant to open up a second site again. That is how we all react.
You will hear more and more stories like this over the coming weeks and months whatever Ms Truss announces.
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