3 weeks ago, my wife and I opened Feel Good Club, our wellbeing focussed coffee shop and bar in NQ. FGC was created after a battle with an eating disorder and my own mental health in the hope we could help others.

It’s a safe space to come and be yourself with no judgement, where our team have mental health first aid training, where everything from the layout to our menu has been created with people and wellbeing at the forefront.

We opened in the midst of a pandemic purely because we know what we do is needed most right now.

So of course we prepared ourselves for a tier 3 lockdown to happen 3 days in, a national lockdown 2 weeks later.

What we didn’t prepare ourselves for was no government support.

This week we were told we are ineligible for the furlough scheme, despite our team being on payroll pre 31st October and we’re also ineligible for any other government grant.

We’ve fallen through the cracks but we need our voices heard, we took this risk to be there for the community and provide a safe space for people to come to after months of loneliness.

We need the support we feel we’re entitled to and we need all the help we can get.

@MayorofGM @AndyBurnhamGM @LucyMPowell @UKHospKate