When lockdown first hit in March last year millions of business owners up and down the country suddenly found themselves struggling for survival.
From bars and restaurants, to hotels and florists, musicians and breweries, to pubs and clubs, they were all left desperately trying to keep their heads above water.
Now, 12 months on, many have barely been able to reopen at all and have seen their income all but dry up.
But some ingenious entrepreneurs thought outside the box to keep their businesses ticking over during the pandemic and have actually thrived, not just survived.
Here we speak to some of the success stories of lockdown.
Festivals... to baby lullabies
Music agent Mike Deane above has run the popular Liverpool Music Week Festival for 15 years but had to cancel 2020 plans when Covid hit.
With no idea when gigs and events might resume he had to think of how to earn cash – and got the inspiration from his young son Sid.
Mike explains: “Me and my wife Amy had our first baby just before the European Cup Final in 2019. I am both a huge music and football fan and we’d play him lullabies.
"But I’d get fed up with the likes of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. So Instead I’d find myself singing him songs from the terraces.
“Some of the songs that inspire the football chants like Solisbury Hill by Peter Gabriel and Rotterdam by the Beautiful South translate beautifully into night-time songs for babies. So when the pandemic hit me and Amy created a CD of lullabies based on LFC terrace chants.”
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Mike had to get permission from all of the original songwriters to use the music and even tracked down a pianist in Argentina, Rodolfo Paez, who wrote the music that inspired the popular chant for Liverpool player Roberto Firmino.
The couple have had a great response to the LFC Lullaby CD and have been selling it via the Official Liverpool FC Club shop, independent retailers and online to Liverpool supporters across the world.
Mike now has plans to create similar CDs for fans of other major clubs including Celtic, Manchester United and Everton.
Catering... to wedding meal deals
Alison Lockett-Burke opened up her catering firm three years ago creating meals for supper clubs and events.
But when we were plunged into lockdown last March her work dried up.
Alison, 41, from Liverpool, explains: “I sort of went into shock for the first three weeks. But I thought if I don’t do something the business won’t survive.”
She then created a grazing box of charcuterie, home-made bread, meats, dips and gourmet sausage rolls before posting it on her Fig and the Wild social media site when inquiries went crazy.
Alison says: “We had people whose weddings were cancelled using us as their wedding day meal instead, people ordering from all the country and world, even from Australia and New York for Liverpool family and friends.”
At first it was just the mum and her daughter Esme, 14, making the boxes at home before she had to move to a catering premises and employ staff.
Alison’s website traffic has soared by more than 500% – as has her turnover.
She says: “This started as a way to survive the pandemic but it has given my business different strands. It has been a real surprise but also really nice.
“We have so many more followers on social media now and a loyal base of customers who are now booking us for weddings and future events.”
Florist... to teacher
Natasha Bartlett-Twivey runs floral design studio Ferris Heart Sloane which would do luxury artificial flower displays for shops and hotels.
But when they had to close down she feared her business might too.
Mum-of-two Natasha, 44, from Stewkley, Bucks, explains: “I am not the type of person who can sit back and do nothing.
“I took a punt on creating a Christmas wreath box that people could put together at home.
"We ended up sending out more than 750 of them and our revenue last December was probably double on the previous year.”
Natasha also set up online workshops including flower arranging, which have bloomed.
She says: “I think people find them quite therapeutic and it takes them out of the stresses of daily life.
“I am definitely going to continue when lockdown ends. It is good to have your core business but also other things you can capitalise on seasonally.”
Cider... to sanitiser
Celtic Marches brews cider on Rob Hancock’s family farm in Herefordshire and most of their business came from the hospitality and festival industry.
So when hospitality closed down the firm knew they had to diversify to survive.
They teamed up with Penrhos Spirits and used the World Health Organisation’s approved recipe to produce hand sanitiser.
Account manager Collette Cumbes explains: “We are a small team and our main concern was keeping our staff in jobs.
"We have our own packaging site so we teamed up with Penrhos to use their alcohol to produce, package and sell hand sanitiser, which was amazing.
“We had sold wholesale but set up our own online platform to sell direct to the consumer and we have been getting really good return customers.
“The downtime also gave us the time to plant a new crop, so we planted vines and are launching our first ever range of English wine in March.
“While lockdown was really tough, it made us look for other ways to use our business and hopefully once things get back to normal we can go from strength to strength.”
Showbiz... to jigsaws
James Edwards was working in marketing for the entertainment industry when lockdown happened and he was furloughed.
Then a job he had been offered in Melbourne, Australia, was also pulled due to the Covid crisis.
So he and his friend Ashley Ling decided to launch their own business tapping into people’s boredom and need for stress relief.
James, 25, from Milton Keynes, Bucks, explains: “Ash started doing jigsaws during lockdown, something he hadn’t done since he was a kid.
“We had always wanted to start our own business since we studied business at university so came up with the idea of inspiring a new generation of jigsaw lovers.
“Most people associate jigsaws with older people and pictures of steam trains or the English countryside, so we decided to team up with contemporary artists to try to make jigsaws cool again.”
Their business Piece and Quiet launched with one design by artist Sophie Charnley and they are now about to release their sixth product.
James says: “Our main challenge is trying to meet the demand.”
