Gastro bug harshly affected businesses

Village business owner and Havelock North Business Association member Liv Reynolds pouring some bottled water in Wright and Co during the gastro outbreak.

Local business owners have compared Havelock North to a "ghost town" during the gastro outbreak as revenues plummeted and customers didn't turn up.

Members of the Havelock North Business Association went around the village to see what the estimated losses were but have kept these confidential.

Business association committee member Catherine Wedd said it was clear what the pattern was.

"We went around the inner circle and I know the outer parts of the village were also seriously affected like Te Mata Figs," Ms Wedd said.

Business owner and committee member Liv Reynolds said 70 per cent of staff from Mamacita, Wright and Co and Hugo Chang were sick and they were about 80 per cent down on revenue during the gastro outbreak.

"It was horrendous, it was like a ghost town. The cost to the hospitality sector at the time was huge as staff were down and there was no one coming through the doors."

The Village Butcher owner Paul Greaney said earlier he had to use the money he saved for a water-free machine on keeping his business afloat while Kilim Turkish owner Fatih Cakmak said his business was down 30 per cent.

Te Mata Figs owner Murray Douglas was another business down during the gastro crisis, recording a loss of $20,000.

"We were so close to taking Havelock North off our labels, it was that damaging. We rely from the outset on safe water and the fact we couldn't didn't cut the mustard."

Mr Douglas didn't know about the contaminated water until the Monday after the boil notice, and production had continued as normal during that weekend.

"We produce seven days a week and no one told us about it until 2pm on Monday.

"After doing tests we worked out we were fine but if that wasn't the case we would have lost thousands. We are fortunate the production process mitigated the bug due to its heat."

The figgery, which has a large tourism component, also lost a significant number of visitors.

"They just didn't come through the doors as people were too concerned about what was going on in the village."

The accommodation sector was another part of the tourism industry hit hard with some having cancellations right through summer.

Ms Reynolds put the severity of the impact down to the collection of locally owned and operated boutique business, which is one of the unique characteristics of the village.

"This is a point of difference that brings people here and often what people love about the village, but this however was unfortunately the reason why the crisis took such a toll."

With businesses losing money across the board the Hastings District Council set up a financial assistance package for those that qualified.

A council spokeswoman said 37 businesses received assistance at an average of $4783 each.

Ms Reynolds said the fund was to stop businesses closing permanently and definitely helped to keep Havelock North in operation.

"It didn't come close to reimbursing everyone their full amount, but then again that was never the point of the emergency fund."

She said it will be interesting to see what comes about after the government inquiry results are published.