Popular wartime phrase “keep calm and carry on” has once again shown its ability to strengthen beleaguered communities – this time uniting Salisbury residents following an unprecedented few months.
Visits to the city centre are still down 15% on last year, with B&Bs and local businesses still recovering months after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were targeted in a nerve agent attack.
The figure demonstrates the lasting impact of the Novichok poisonings in March, in which the Skripals were left fighting for their lives after they fell ill while eating at a chain restaurant in the city.
And just as Salisbury was starting to return to normal – endorsed by a visit from the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in June – neighbouring town Amesbury was hit with a second incident.
Dawn Sturgess died in July after coming into contact with the discarded substance while her partner, Charlie Rowley, fell ill but survived.
Public Health England have said the risk to the public is low, but the city which usually attracts more than five million visitors annually is still getting back on its feet, as many would-be tourists still appear cautious.
Figures from tourism body Visit Wiltshire show “weak” forward bookings at local B&Bs, with the city witnessing a fall in UK leisure visitors aged over 50.
But tourism hotspots are finally starting to report improved visitor numbers.
Wiltshire Council received a £2.8m government boost in July, with £1.8m of that allocated to the support of local businesses and tourism in the region.
It followed a £2.5m recovery package provided in March.
The council also lifted parking charges in the city centre and Amesbury car parks in a bid to boost footfall – an initiative funded by a £570,000 package from ministers.
Residents and business owners in the city are understandably keen to carry on as usual, determined not to let the glaring spotlight of a global story affect their daily life.
Simon Ward, a local photographer in Salisbury, estimated that businesses that were behind the police cordon had suffered a 10% to 70% loss in earnings since the March 4 attack.
Ward, whose studio is located opposite the car recovery site where Sergei Skripal’s car was stored following the attack, said “keyboard warriors” who had never visited the area were spreading material which he deemed “damaging”.
The 39-year-old told HuffPost UK: “As much as the death was a tragic set of circumstances, there’s been no panic. Certainly residents, businesses, everybody connected with the city and surrounding areas thought ‘well, let’s just keep calm and carry on’.
He added: “The keyboard warriors…they don’t know the area, they’ve never been to the area but they’ve got an opinion of it and it’s that sort of stuff that is quite damaging to the city.
“People in the city we think we’ve got to be extra cautious because we don’t know, we can’t be certain that there aren’t any other substances out there, but from the outside looking in, some media and some people on twitter are treating it as ‘it’s happening again it’s not safe to go there’. That’s not the case.”
A false alarm on Sunday saw a local Prezzo shut down and emergency services attend the scene after a woman and a man fell ill at the restaurant.
Wiltshire police later confirmed there was “nothing to suggest” the diners had been exposed to Novichok.
Ward, a keen Twitter user, posted on on the site that the scene was safe.
Jamie Lingham works at Regents Tailoring – an independent menswear shop located close to Salisbury Cathedral.
He said that while the business struggled slightly at the beginning of summer, he expects things to get back to normal in the run up to Christmas, as he reassured visitors that there is “absolutely nothing to be scared of”.
He told HuffPost UK: “There are still places that are still closed since the initial attack, for example The Mill pub and the restaurant where it happened.”
The pub is undergoing refurbishment and will reopen later this year after it was handed back to owners in August following a decontamination operation.
Lingham added: “Part of the city still isn’t functioning – I don’t think it’s going to be for the foreseeable future.
“We’re a small city with a good heart.
“As a city and as a standpoint we truly don’t want to be beaten by this and we definitely think tourists should not be changing their plans, they should be coming back and they should be experiencing the good that we have.”