An independent business owner in Swindon has said she is “terrified” about the future and believes there are more obstacles than ever preventing small businesses from thriving.

Jessie Yeoell of GlamoRose Cakes started her business in 2011 and has her own cake shop in Old Town and also delivers cupcakes, traybakes, tiffins, brownies, birthday cakes and ice cream.

In October, Jessie shared that she was struggling after her van was involved in an accident and she would have to cover the costs to repair it, setting her back thousands of pounds.

She has since had more cause for concern after the Government released its Autumn Budget plans on October 30, which she believes proves small businesses are not a priority and will lead to business owners being forced to give up their livelihood.

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Jessie explained: “Our sales are fine but the cost of everything going up by so much is just an enormous weight on the business. I’m working just as hard, if not more hours, and taking an enormous pay cut and there’s nothing I can really do about it.

“I’ve been around in this business for so long and I’ve seen everything change so drastically in the last few years and that’s why I’m struggling.

“I actually can’t explain how much the ingredients they have gone up, we are trying to find things cheaper and travelling to different places. If we find one product cheaper, we buy in bulk because we can’t take the hit. The speed at that things are going up by and not coming back down is just unbelievable.

“It was a very different world when I started and I’ve navigated the business through Covid and changed the business in so many different ways to keep it going, but I don’t know when this is going to end.

“With things happening like the van, I used to have the money to pay for it and now I don’t. I just didn’t need that right now. It was a complete accident and you can’t stop accidents from happening. It just makes you terrified because what if it happens again?

(Image: GlamoRose Cakes)

“I heard the Budget on Wednesday and I thought ‘I don’t know how to navigate this and survive’. Every time something happens I have this instinct and idea of what I can do to keep the business going, but I’m getting to the point where I don’t know what to do anymore.

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“All my staff are working so hard and they care so much, it’s amazing and we’re pulling together as a team. It’s still so tough and I know so many businesses are feeling the same.

“It isn’t going to get any kinder for small business owners. They are people who put their livelihoods on the line and try to give people jobs and grow to be a big business, but there’s no opportunity to do that. I guess what the Budget shows me is that there’s going to be many more things coming into play that won’t help in the future, it feels very unknown."

“The support I’ve had has been amazing, people have been so kind and without that we wouldn’t survive", Jessie added. "It’s mind-blowing that we’re in a cost-of-living crisis and people are still being so kind and putting money into my account or trying to pay extra."

Jessie is still selling her famous treat boxes which became very popular during lockdown to raise the funds to get the repairs done on the van and these can be collected from the Old Town store.

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