As COVID restrictions ease Perth city centre is still reeling from months of closures and restrictions.
In a series of special reports, we look at how the city’s retail and hospitality sector is recovering from the impact of the pandemic and what the future holds for our high street...
Audrey Maestri could not picture her popular independent Perth cafe and gift shop being situated anywhere else having come out stronger since the lifting of COVID restrictions.
The floral-decorated Rose House is perched at the centre of St John Street and is run by Audrey and her husband, along with the Olive Tree takeaway down the street.
The Perth business couple opened their cafe in 2016, which also sells flowers and gifts and offers rooms upstairs for meeting space and group gatherings.
The Rose House has outlasted larger units in the street, such as the old Beales and Lakeland lots as well as the former Edinburgh Woollen Mill space.
Meanwhile, the Myths and Legends restaurant and bar next door remains closed.
But despite the gradual decline in retail presence on St John Street, Audrey feels the couple’s - as well as the surrounding independent business owners’ - determination to put in the extra hours has seen them come out the other side of the pandemic to look towards a brighter future.
“When Lakeland shut [in May 2021] you could see a big difference from this side of the street,” Audrey said.
“Having Lakeland there was definitely a pull. We are lucky we have still got the shoe shop and Joules open.
“We have survived just because we have put in 70 hours a week for zero pay.
“That is what it comes down to and that is why the smaller businesses will survive.
“Whereas the bigger companies’ CEO still wants a £200,000 pay packet at the end of the year, smaller businesses like us are hanging on and we will get our rewards in two or three years.
“There is interest in the Lakeland building and I think when that side of the street starts to build up it brings more trade down.
“People think if it is a restaurant it may take away from us but it won’t because people have got all these restaurants near us and people still come here.
“The more people on the street the better.”
The cafe closed at the start of COVID lockdown in March 2020 and reopened in May 2021.
“When we reopened last year it was with our breath held in case things closed up again,” she explained.
“We didn’t reopen until May because of the building works next door [at the Myths and Legends building].
“We had a big choice to make, whether to come back again because we had to wait so long. We looked at different units and different towns.
“One of the reasons we did come back into this unit is because we know we are in a good position.
“We are in the middle of the street and I love the place that much and we love Perth.”
Audrey feels the larger empty units in the city centre, such as the former Debenhams lot on High Street, could signal the end of the major retailers’ city centre dominance.
“I don’t think they are ever going to get the big department store back,” she added.
“It is busy in town and we are busy enough - but I don’t see a lot of carrier bags now.
“When we first opened in 2016 on the Friday and Saturday we saw people coming in with carrier bags and I’ve not seen a lot of that.
“People still come into town but it is more for the social interaction.
“We have a lot of regulars and a lot of older or bereaved people come here.
“They are comfortable coming in on their own even if they have lost someone and that is a big one for them.
“Either way money is going to need to be found for these empty buildings or they will lie empty and fall into disrepair.”
Audrey believes the new Perth City Hall Museum project will be a big boost for nearby traders, but that the council’s focus should also be elsewhere.
“I think it will draw people in to this area,” Audrey said.
“But for the wider community there is nothing for children in Perth.
“I love art and I love museums and it is very well having it there but if you have got kids running around all weekend - who wants to come to Perth?
“I used to work for community education when I was younger and it is important to look after our younger people.
“We need a community space for them or something to get them to be interested in.
“I ran a youth centre in one of the toughest areas in Lanarkshire and some of the kids there had criminal records - but the centre was there and they felt like they had ownership of it.”
