Handmade crafters have been surviving the coronavirus lockdown with the help of Wellington Town Council’s Pop Up Shop – even though it has been closed until last week.

They have been benefiting from a social media Pop Up Shop spin-off, monthly ‘Shop from your sofa’ weekends run by business partners Jo Alway, of Cotford St Luke, and Alice Burns, of Aspin Road, Wellington.

The pair originally created The Handmade Pop Up Shop brand featuring 20 different crafters when they rented the premises in the month leading up to Christmas, and they started ‘Shop from your sofa’ to help customers with mobility issues do their shopping from home.

Their Pop Up Shop booking in March was intended to cover the Mothering Sunday and Easter periods but was cut short by the pandemic.

Mrs Burns said: “Obviously, we then could not do our Handmade Pop Up Shop booking in May because of the virus and most events for traders over the summer have been cancelled.

“So, we have been offering the online ‘Shop from your sofa’ platform to help our handmade crafters continue to be seen during the lockdown and help customers do their shopping without leaving home.

“We run the events monthly via Facebook over a weekend to keep supporting our local handmade traders through the pandemic and to give the community a welcome distraction during this difficult time.”

More than 40 local handmade businesses have been helped since the Handmade Pop Up Shop began, with a steadily increasing number asking to trade on the social media platform.

Crafters submit information and photographs of their products and Mrs Burns and Ms Alway put them in contact with any customers who show an interest in them.

The traders then take over communications and arrange to post or deliver the items or have them collected – meeting social distancing rules.

The next ‘Shop from your sofa’ weekend starts today (Friday) and runs until Sunday.

Information about it can be found on Facebook by searching the branding ‘The handmade pop-up shop’.