- Both national lockdowns have impacted the beauty industry with salons closed across the UK
- The Barn Somerset secured a CBILS loan of 拢65,000 from Santander UK to support a new online shop, as well as the safe re-opening of the salon
- The business recorded 拢55,000 of online sales in just four months, helping to mitigate the impact of the salon being closed
- Pre-Covid the beauty industry was worth 拢28.4 billion听to UK GDP1听
The Barn Somerset, a destination beauty salon, has successfully used a 拢65,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) to diversify its services and move online, generating 拢55,000 of sales in just four months during the first national lockdown.听
Pre-lockdown, The Barn鈥檚 services were entirely in person and included holistic, skin treatments, IPL & laser and all standard beauty treatments, as well as a team of specialist practitioners. When the salon had to close during lockdown, owner Kelly Hooper, who opened the salon 12 years ago, worked with Santander UK to secure the CBILS funding.听
As well as setting up the online shop and improving its website, the funds have supported the salon鈥檚 re-opening with coronavirus health and safety standards for employees and customers put in place. The salon has again temporarily closed in line with the latest Government restrictions. It hopes to reopen in December and while closed, its online shop is helping to support the business and mitigate the impact of the second lockdown.听
Kelly Hooper, owner of The Barn, said: 鈥淒espite the challenges of the pandemic, it鈥檚 been an exciting time for The Barn. Working closely with Chris and the team at Santander UK, we secured the funding we needed to launch our online shop, which has been instrumental in mitigating the impact of the salon being closed. It鈥檚 fantastic to be able to reach new customers who can enjoy our range of carefully curated, high quality beauty products at home. As a business, we feel well placed to navigate the ongoing uncertainty with Santander鈥檚 support. That said, of course we can鈥檛 wait to welcome back our clients to enjoy treatments in the beautiful surroundings of The Barn as soon as we鈥檙e safely able to.鈥
Chris Appleton, Relationship Manager at Santander UK, commented: 鈥淜elly has established a fantastic business at The Barn. 听When the impact of lockdown became apparent, she moved quickly to diversify and open a new online income stream. We鈥檙e proud to work with Kelly and to support the beauty industry, which is a major contributor to the UK GDP.鈥
Santander UK has published research2 exploring the impact of the pandemic on businesses. The research revealed that a third of SME leaders 听feel anxious about the future of their business with only a fifth (19%) expecting to return to normal operating levels by the end of 2020 and almost a third (32%) by July 2021.听
The majority (60%) of leaders at SMEs are worried about their ability to attract customers back as the economy re-opens, with nearly a fifth (18%) concerned about the level of investment in marketing needed to restore customer spending to pre-coronavirus levels.
Survive and Revive is Santander鈥檚 business support programme which is designed to help to support businesses with the knowledge and capabilities to prosper through the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
More information on Santander鈥檚 鈥楽urvive and Revive鈥 programme, including webinars such as one led by Elavon on how to take your business online, and a list of other helpful resources is at .
- Ends -
The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.
Notes to Editors
1.听听 听British Beauty Council, report, July 2019
2.听听 听Research is drawn from a survey conducted by Opinium research between the 10 鈥 19 June 2020. The base size was 2,050 UK adults who are senior managers and those above who are responsible for decision making in SMEs.
3.听听 听Lockdown was introduced in UK on 23 March 2020.听
For information about The Barn please visit ;
Media Enquiries
Lara Lipsey听 听 听 听 听 听 听M: 07713 560 209 听听 E: Lara.Lipsey@santander.co.uk听
Helen Needham 听 M: 07566 762 453听听 听E: Helen.Needham@santander.co.uk听
The Santander press office operates from 8.00am to 6.00pm. Outside of these hours please call 0800 5877708.
听