In normal times, this weekend would always have been a busy one for retailers, pubs, restaurants and other businesses across the country.
With just over three weeks to Christmas, the twin marketing driven phenomena of Black Friday and Cyber Monday taking place as well as work and personal parties getting underway, the last weekend of November generally marks the start of the festive shopping and celebration season.
But this year, like everything in 2020, it is very different. Because instead of focusing solely on handling the uptick in sales and bookings that the period ordinarily entails, non-essential retailers, gastro-pubs, restaurants, hotels, hairdressers and more will today and tomorrow be dealing with the added complication of