Gary Hives has run the Top Lock Coffee Stop for 15 years, and this year he was due to hand down the family business to his daughter Kelly who has worked with him for the last 13 years, and her daughter Hayley who has joined the business in the last 2 years. The last year has been incredibly hard - not only with the pandemic and the uncertainty that was bought by the lockdowns, but sadly Kelly was also diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in April. After 12 months of lockdowns, chemo treatments and surgeries, Kelly has fully recovered and came back to work last week excited for the future, pleased to see her customers again and looking forward to taking the reigns in October. Last week however, the Canal & River Trust who own the building advised Gary that they would not be renewing his lease and planned to run the coffee shop themselves. Having spent 15 years building this family business, and surviving the pandemic, they now look to be having their livelihoods taken away by CRT because they think they have a money making opportunity. Please show your support by petitioning the CRT Canal & River Trust
and MP Neil O’Brien MP
to stop this from happening to such a hard working family.