When pubs were forced to close their doors, independent family business Everards of Leicestershire continued to place its business owners foremost.
It quickly confirmed that it would cancel — not defer — rent, and cancelled £5.6m of rent to support its business owners, as well as providing ideas and guidance to help them during lockdown.
In a show of appreciation, and to say thank you to the whole Everards team for their support during the pandemic, business owners from across the estate clubbed together and gifted two beautifully crafted benches that sit outside Everards’ new home and state-of-the-art brewery at Everards Meadows, along with several trees.
Organisers of the collection, Sarah Heath from The Aberdale (Knighton) and Justin Robinson-Bowles from The Queen’s Head (Little Eaton), along with many other Everards business owners, joined Richard and Julian Everard as they raised a glass to toast the occasion.
“We wanted to give something back and show our appreciation of all the help and support Everards have provided during such a worrying and challenging time,” said Sarah.
‘We are all in this together’
Richard said: “We are truly honoured to be gifted two such beautifully crafted benches that now sit here at our home for all to see and enjoy.
“It has been a unique and challenging situation for us all, something none of us could have seen coming or planned for, but we are like a family, and we are all in this together.
“We wanted to take an approach that was fair and help business owners be a good place and ready to start trading again as soon as they could. We are proud to work with so many amazing business owners.”
