Andrew Duncan, director of Art of Living is one of the independent cookshop owners that have welcomed the business lifeline provided by government’s measures to protect the self-employed and workers during the current crisis, The specialist cookshop was established in 1972, and has branches in Reigate, Cobham and Banstead.
Andrew reflects: “One of my favourite films of all time is “Casablanca” and Senor Ferrari, played by Sidney Greenstreet, has a marvellous line in it where he says to Ingrid Bergman, in his inimitable threateningly oily style “Frankly it would take a miracle to get you out of Casablanca, and the Germans have outlawed miracles”! It always makes me chuckle, maybe because I don’t tend to believe in miracles? At least not for me… Well, then the chancellor handed us a miracle on a plate. He said he was going to pay 80% of our wages for a while and give us some substantial help to pay our overheads as well for a similar amount of time. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard this and I felt completely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the generosity of it, overwhelmed by the realism of it, overwhelmed that someone was actually helping us out of a hole!”
Art of Living is continuing to trade online, with Anthony picking and packing solo at Banstead. Co-director Babette Duncan is helping Art of Living’s community of customers with bread baking advice, including how to manage with less flour or less yeast when there is a shortage of ingredients.
Top: Art of Living has three stores in Surrey that are temporarily closed due to the pandemic and a long established online shop.
