Handyman Nick determined to make a success of first business even during lockdown

Nick Lindop took a gamble opening his first business in the midst of a pandemic, but he’s determined to make a success of it even as the nation heads into its second lockdown.

The 27-year-old from Astley opened Nick’s DIY inside Leigh market in August, and is one of the fortunate few who will be allowed to stay open during November, having been classed as an essential business.

He said: “We’re like one of those old fashioned handyman shops where you used to be able to get everything from - the ones that look like Aladdin’s Cave, where you ask the bloke behind the counter and he knows exactly where everything is!”

He went on: “I’d been thinking about [setting up a business] for about 12 months. Once I became a store manager at a previous company, I started thinking I wanted to do this for myself. I was thinking about it for a long time, and just decided to go for it. It was a bit of a wild decision to do it in the middle of this pandemic, but it’s so far, so good.”

Business has steadily grown for Nick in the few weeks since his stall opened, and he is confident that customers will still feel safe visiting the markets, which were forced to close entirely during the first lockdown earlier in the year.

He said: “When Leigh market closed last time, it wasn’t the most welcome news that the whole market had to close. So it’s a lot more positive this time. The customers here seem to actually want to back us rather than just talking about wanting to support us and then not turning up. So it’s been quite good.”

The Wigan Observer is more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription to support our journalism. For unlimited access to Wigan news and information online, you can subscribe here.