'Novichok was even worse than Corona': A postcard from Salisbury, a city adept at handling setbacks

The cathedral city of Salisbury was still recovering from the Novichok poisonings of 2018 when Covid-19 arrived. For some businesses the pandemic will be the final nail in the coffin; for others it is proving to be a relatively minor set-back.

“Novichok was even worse than Corona,” said Dave Hancock (33), who with his wife Aimee (27), owns three city venues, including an upmarket B&B. “We had armed police with machine guns and cordons right outside our craft beer bar – Danny’s Bar – so no-one wanted to come in,” said Dave. “With the army presence as well, people were put off coming into town anyway. Government officials would visit and walk around in full hazmat suits and we [local people] would think, ‘hang on a sec... should we all be wearing them too then?’” The lack of trade at Danny’s Bar resulted in the business closing. In 2019 the couple reinvented the premises as a Mexican restaurant, Tinga.

After that experience with the Novichok crisis, the dynamic duo – who employ 15 full-time staff and other part-timers – aren’t going to let a virus stop them. “While some restaurants in the city are still closed, we’ve reopened even though we’re not sure if we can be profitable at just 40% capacity,” said Aimee. “But we don’t want to sit on our hands and do nothing.” Doing nothing is certainly not the Hancocks’ modus operandi. In response to the pandemic, they have rented space from the council in the Guildhall Square and will be running a pop-up food and drink event for six weeks, starting this weekend on August 1. ‘Salisbury City Garden’ will feature real ale from local breweries and caterers who usually make appearances at the West Country’s festivals and weddings. The outdoor event is table-service only with QR code menus and tables seating six at the most.

Earlier this week, while a large canvas awning was being erected, I met with the pair at tall wooden tables under trees in the delightful paved market place edged with outdoor cafes. “We’re pushing for Salisbury not to become a sleepy retirement city,” said Dave. “We’re rocking the boat and trying to inject some energy.” It seems to be working. The couple also ran the city’s Frost tipi bar – real fires, reindeer skins, hot chocolate – in the Guildhall square last December.

“We’re hoping people might drive by the City Garden, see that everything’s being done safely and that it’ll give people confidence to come and try it out and then visit other local businesses,” said Aimee.

It seems the Skripal poisonings, like Nietzsche’s aphorism, made some of Salisbury’s hospitality ventures stronger. “We’re more resilient after Novichok,” said Dave. “There’s a strong independent business community here. Novichok taught us that we need to cooperate and push forward to make things happen.”

While the Novichok crisis led to a fall in Salisbury’s domestic visitors, international arrivals kept on coming. Coach loads of Americans and Chinese visited the cathedral and nearby Stonehenge as usual. In this pandemic, the situation is reversed. International visitors are now mostly absent but the domestic market is buoying up to fill the void faster than expected. “We’ve been fully booked for the last two weekends,” said Colin Shaw, general manager at the Rose & Crown, a 34-room hotel on the banks of the River Avon near the cathedral close. “People are coming away for a break and to visit friends and relatives in the city,” he said, over a coffee at the hotel’s outdoor terrace. “We had one couple all the way from Yorkshire.”

The historic hotel, previously busy with weddings and international visitors, is now reliant on this domestic tourism. Demand is such that reductions are minimal or non-existent. “Rather than bargains, people are looking for reassurances about safety,” said Shaw. Novichok is still a worry for some guests though. “We have one regular guest who refuses to go anywhere near any of the sites where they searched for the nerve agent,” said Shaw. “I’m not sure the recent BBC drama – the Salisbury Poisonings – helped. It reminded people of the incident and that Novichok can remain active for 50 years.

Some local day-trippers to the city echoed this sentiment. “We don’t let our children pick up any litter or touch things here in Salisbury,” said Kate Langdown, visiting from Warminster for the day with husband Mark Langdown, as they admired sculptures in the cathedral close, part of celebrations for the cathedral’s 800th anniversary this year (now extended until 2021).

“Novichok’s been mostly forgotten because of the pandemic,” said Mark, a paramedic who has attended many Covid patients. “Novichok was more scary [than Covid] as there was less information and it was all so ‘sneaky-beak,’” he said, as the peregrines that live on the tower screeched high above. “Obviously Novichok [one gram of which can kill up to 10,000 people] is more fatal on an individual basis but the pandemic is more damaging globally.”

Inside the cathedral, the pandemic means no crowds. With pre-booked visitor numbers limited to 60 per half-hour slot, the vast space feels almost empty. Compared to the usual 1,000 to 2,000 daily visitors in a normal summer, numbers are low. “But we’re getting more than we expected already, about 400 to 500 each day,” said Marie Thomas, PR and travel trade manager of the cathedral. In the nave, hygiene and distancing measures mean that all the seating has been removed. It looks even more spacious, quiet and impressive than usual.

Admiring the slow tick of the world’s oldest working clock, I met visitors from Surrey, Andy Ricketts and his Russian partner, “Just call her V”. They had never been to Salisbury before. “The Skripal poisonings certainly put Salisbury on the map. We never knew much about it before that,” said Ricketts. ‘It’s a lot nicer than Swindon,” and with that they disappeared off to explore the many little chapels and artworks celebrating the 800th anniversary. One artwork, Threshold to the Kingdom by Mark Wallinger, is a slow-motion video of air-travellers walking through a door marked ‘international arrivals’ accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful choral soundtrack; Miserere by 17th-century composer Gregorio Allegri. It all seems rather poignant.

Slowly, slowly, a few visitors to Salisbury are indeed international arrivals and some are even on holiday. Megan Yeung from Hong Kong was on the last day of a fortnight’s holiday with her long-distance partner, Jorge Muñoz, from Spain, reuniting for the first time since March. “Restrictions on travel meant that the UK was the only place we could reunite,” said Yeung, who will have to go into two weeks’ quarantine on her return to Hong Kong. The couple, staying at a B&B in a nearby village, had hired a car to travel around Wales and England, “but not London”. “Salisbury is so green and beautiful and very quiet,” said Yeung. They had never heard of the Skripals nor Novichok but were reassured with the UK’s Covid measures. “It all feels very safe,” said Muñoz when I met them as they took a selfie at Old Sarum, a splendid Iron age hill fort two miles north of the cathedral.

Here too were day-trippers from London. Steven and Wendy Brown and their seven-year-old daughter Georgie had just been on a pre-booked English Heritage tour of the medieval castle ruins atop Old Sarum. “The best bit was the pooh pit!” said Georgie. “When the king wasn’t there, someone had to go down on a rope and clean it all out,” explained Steven. Insert your own crisis management metaphor here.

Salisbury City Garden runs from 1st August until 13th September in the Guildhall Square, market place from 10am til 10pm daily. 

Salisbury cathedral is free to visit (donations recommended) but visits must be booked in advance. Visitors should wear masks: www.salisburycathedral.org.uk 

For further information: www.visitwiltshire.co.uk