The jubilee heralds the summer season, but should we be planning for winter?

Vincent Page, of Antiques on High, celebrates one year in business. Picture: Antiques on High (Image: Archant)

As the good weather descends upon us along with an influx of visitors, are we ready for the Jubilee celebrations?

Being beach body ready may be the last of your concerns at the moment as we head into what is hoped to be a busy weekend,

if not week, as we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

Seventy years as our Monarch is an achievement, we should all be proud of.

With the number of visitors increasing day by day enjoying the weather that we have finally been blessed with, we can but hope that the weekends celebrations turn things around for many.

The price of fuel is clearly having an effect on those who would often pop down to Sidmouth from Bristol, Weston Super Mare, Taunton and the like and an increase in parking charges will also be a contributing factor to the cost of a trip to the seaside for the day.

Cynical as this may sound, as the season gathers momentum in time for the weekend perhaps, we need to start making plans for the winter months that lay ahead.

The bills will still have to be paid and it may be time for Councils to look at various innovative schemes with regards to Business rates during the winter months to ensure that those businesses that head into November are still here next February, as an innovative scheme to see them through what is undoubtedly going to be the winter of discontent maybe a life saver for many, after all a street full of empty shops would soon reduce the visitor numbers even further.

It is very easy to become consumed with the current situation, but we all need to look ahead, which given the pandemic maybe a difficult thing to do.

It has proved that we really don’t know what’s around the corner, but a little preparation may not be a bad thing and putting procedures in place now for the winter may enable survival into a brighter future.