We’re enjoying our new home on John St at Harland Works, with fab new neighbours including the new John St Kitchen - whose coffee and food is fantastic (dangerously so).

The last year on Division St had been odd with nobody about, apart from the endless Deliveroo drivers and the odd glum other closed business owner. The community of studios, workshops, offices here feels a much more natural fit for us. Lovely seeing people waiting in the courtyard with their complimentary drink we offer to all eye exam appointments.

The cafe manger Vicky is not only friendly, but a great chef with wonderful flavours in her special lunches. Check out www.harlandworks.co.uk to see more about our new home.

Moving to Harland Works will mean being part of a community of small businesses, a strong partnership with the Cafe and two consulting rooms. All very exciting.

Opening 19-4-21, with steady hours and more staff.

In lockdown 1 we were closed - offering only an emergency triage type of service. We got a covid support grant which helped out.

When lockdown 2 was announced we cancelled all appointments and closed, only to be told that we should be open “prioritising” essential appointments. We thought this was a bit odd in the context of a 4 week circuit breaker and did stay closed for most of that lockdown, but it meant we were no longer eligible for any support payments.

Lockdown 3 we are open for essential again, but are told we can fill up any spare capacity with routine work. This seems completely at odds with the “stay at home” message. So, we are not doing routine work, not sending reminders and telling people to only come if they have issues. Not all opticians feel the same way and there has been some (ahem) debate about the messaging of our regulatory bodies and how much influence the biggest players have on them.

Our take on essential is that you are struggling with your vision with your existing eyewear. Either due to the specs themselves or your eyes. So, for example, if you work from home on a screen all day and are getting eyestrain with your specs on, then an eye test is sensible. Or to put it another way, if you have no blur or strain and specs condition is OK, then wait until lockdown is over.

Even with PPE and all hygiene measures (plus front lne vaccines - 1 shot so far) 30mins plus in a closed room is not something you should do without good reason. So, it is quiet and we have reduced to 3 days “open” by appointment per week - there is still no financial support available to us, even though the impact is obvious.

Like everyone we look forward to different times ahead. Stay safe - Karl and the team.