20/08/2026
When did supporting local businesses become this difficult? 💔
I honestly don’t know whether to be angry, upset or just completely disheartened after receiving this letter and getting shouted at left right and centre by a neighbour.
Apparently we are “unapproachable”. Apparently our business is causing problems for the people around us.
Let me make one thing very clear — we are far from unapproachable.
If residents have genuine concerns, we would much rather they come directly to us. We cannot resolve problems we don’t know about, and we’re more than willing to have a conversation and find practical solutions where we can
Have we made mistakes? Of course we have. We’re human. We run a busy business, we make mistakes, we listen, we learn and we try to do better.
But what people seem to forget is everything we actually do. We support local businesses and charities, litter pick, make the area as clean and tidy as possible, spend our own hard earned money on making the access and exit safe for ourself staff and the community.
I genuinely hope that while people are taking photographs of our yard and the things they believe we are doing wrong, they are also taking photographs of us:
If photographs are being taken to document concerns, that’s absolutely someone’s right. But we would also ask that the full picture is considered — including the work we do to clean, maintain and improve areas around our premises IE-
📸 Litter picking around our site
📸 Restoring and cleaning the car park
📸 Cutting the “said” grass verge
📸 Stoning and improving the end of the track
📸 Removing needles from the area
📸 Removing laughing gas canisters
📸 Removing an honestly unbelievable amount of empty drug packets.
📸 Trying to keep our surroundings clean and presentable
📸 Cutting back our neighbours trees
📸 donating to charities and fundraising
We are also conscious that not every issue occurring in the surrounding area is caused by, or within the control of, our business. We will continue to report issues when we see them, but we cannot be expected to take responsibility for every problem in the wider area.
Because believe it or not, we care.
Yes, we are a business.
Yes, we are here to make money.
But there are actual human beings behind this business who work hard every single day, employ local people, pay our bills, pay our taxes and try to contribute to the area we operate in.
And sometimes I genuinely sit and think, why are we bothering?
There have been days when I’ve thought about simply shutting the gates, walking away and selling the site for flats or to spite the neighbours more a local travelling community And honestly, sometimes that feels like the easier option.
But then I remember why we started, the people we employ, the customers who support us and the fact that we have built something here.
What hurts the most is feeling like we are expected to constantly defend ourselves, while some of the wider problems around our site seem to go unnoticed.
To the local Councilor/MP who regularly walks past our yard — why not pop in and have a chat with us? We are very nice people and will do anything to help anyone. It may be an easy solution to fix, but avoiding us won't fix any problems just make them worse.
I have made numerous phone calls to your office regarding issues around the bottom of our site, including fly-tipping, drug-related issues and antisocial behaviour. I have raised concerns and asked for help, yet we have NEVER heard back... disheartening 💔
So when a complaint is made by a neighbouring resident (who clearly knows someone in the council/ or MP) and suddenly there is attention being brought to the situation, you can understand why we feel frustrated.
We don’t expect to be above criticism, but we do expect to be given the opportunity to respond to concerns fairly and constructively.
Does this feel like support?
Because from where we are standing, it doesn’t. It feels like we are being cornered.
Small independent businesses are already fighting an uphill battle. Rising costs, regulations, staffing, insurance, energy, tax and endless paperwork — and then on top of that, we’re expected to deal with complaints and criticism while trying to keep a business running.
And this is exactly why I fear Leigh town centre and our local business community will eventually become a ghost town.
I don’t blame businesses for leaving when they feel unsupported.
We don’t expect special treatment.
We don’t expect people to ignore our mistakes.
We don’t expect everyone to love what we do.
What we do expect is a little understanding, communication and fairness and most of all RESPECT. We would never ever speak to people the way this one lady spoke to me.
If there is a problem with us, come and speak to us.
Our door is open.
We are approachable.
We are human.
And despite how it may sometimes look from the outside, we genuinely do care about our business, our customers, our staff and our local community.
We just wish people would remember that there are people behind the business too. ❤️
