Sheffield fruit and veg shop blooms after a-peel for help

Mark and Cheryl Hartley are third generation greengrocers and owners of Hartley's Fruit Cabin and Florist at Twentywell Lane, Bradway.

The community recently rallied round when Cheryl was taken ill with suspected coronavirus and a team of volunteers ran the shop and kept it open while the couple self-isolated.

Now Mark and Cheryl are back at work and delivering dozens of food boxes every day. Mark begins at 3am when he goes to the wholesalers and he's currently not finishing until 7.30pm at night.

"The shop isn't open but we're taking orders online and over the phone," he said.

"The deliveries aren't a problem but we have two teams packing the boxes and they are working non stop. Physically we don't want any more than five people in the shop so we can keep a distance.

"We've widened our area to include Dore and Totley but as more of the other shops have closed, we have struggled to cover it. We close on a Sunday and Monday because we need the rest."

Storing all the hundreds of delivery boxes has also proved a challenge. Mark added: "We have spent £1,000 just on cardboard boxes and we've needed double the number of man hours to fill them.

"Westfield built us some flat pack boxes and sent us three pallets and a local builder, Pete Dungworth, is letting us store them in his car port."

The couple aren't sure if Cheryl did have coronavirus but she was ill for several days. Mark said: "We handed the keys to the community and went into isolation for a fortnight.

"Some were customers who volunteered, we had local councillor Martin Smith helping out and some old members of staff came back. They were very short staffed and very much under pressure but it was 100 per cent community spirit."

Both Mark and Cheryl's grandparents worked in the greengrocer trade with shops dating back to the 1800s.