The chairman of Shepton Mallet Chamber of Commerce has called for more clarity from the government for small businesses.

Alan Stone, who is also an author, historian and co-owner of Stone's Cider, was responding to a report from the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), which says that one in three closed firms fear they will never reopen.

Alan said that in Shepton Mallet the picture is black, but not as bleak as the FSB is suggesting - yet.

He told Shepton Mallet Nub News: "Of course all small firms are really struggling - but it rather depends on what sector they are in, relations with landlords and to an extent how small they are.

"In general micro businesses seem to be adapting better than slightly larger. They are more flexible and are more reliant on their own labour.

"Family has increasingly become important, I have come across a number of businesses who have furloughed their staff and are making uses of their sons and daughters who are home from university. Not a great state of affairs but improvising to survive seems to be very much the pattern."

Alan said that the one thing that smaller businesses desperately need is clarity from the government - what they are allowed to do and when.

"Unfortunately this is the very thing they are not getting," he said.

"They need something to plan for and work towards. The forward advice seems particularly vague when it comes to pubs and cafes.

"These make up a considerable portion of small businesses in a town like Shepton Mallet and in addition there are probably even more small business who are reliant on supplying them.

"The reason for no approval for these to open is put down to social distancing. Is this down to undue alarm and a misreading of the level of business these do?

"I have gone to many local cafes and been the only person in them - a trickle of trade would best describe their normal day.

"Many pubs also have a norm of about half a dozen clients at any one time. Surely it would not be beyond the whit of man to allow these small businesses to open with social distancing?

"We also keep on reading different figures for the distance that is needed. Two metres we are told.

"In France it is apparently one-and-a-half metres - maybe they don't cough as hard. The World Health Organisation has a recommendation of one metre spacing.

"In Tesco this morning nearly all the customers were walking about as if there was no distance restriction.

"Directional arrows on the floor were being totally ignored. I would like a breakdown of the data that explains exactly how the current distancing practice is working.

"We are told it is important for people to get into the open air - but open air markets and cafes remain largely closed.

"Irrespective of the distance I think most of us know at what distance we feel comfortable - isn't it about time that clear data backed guidance was given and an amount of trust passed to the public who have amazed all with the obedience to the stay at home call?

"Meanwhile the small business owners I speak to are getting more and more negative about future prospects.

"The longer this impasse goes on the more likely it is that one in three small firms will not reopen. We need clarity to enable us to plan - and we do not need the national media to spread unfounded scare stories."

The FSB's survey of 5,471 small business owners found that four in ten (41 per cent) have been forced to close since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK. Of those that have closed, 35 per cent are not sure whether they will ever reopen again.

For those small businesses paying a mortgage or lease on their premises, more than a quarter (28 per cent) have failed to make, or faced severe difficulties in making, rent or mortgage repayments as a result of the pandemic's economic impacts.

A similar proportion (25 per cent) have had to shelve product development plans. Among exporters, a fifth (21 per cent) say they have had to either reduce or cancel international sales.

In response to the strain being placed on them, more than one in three (37 per cent) small employers are considering, or have already made, redundancies.

Seven in ten (71 per cent) small employers have furloughed staff to aid the survival of their business, illustrating the extent to which the Job Retention Scheme has protected the livelihoods of millions as economic activity has slumped.

As initial efforts are made to switch the economy back on, three quarters (74 per cent) of these businesses say the ability to partially furlough workers would benefit them.

Of these, half say they want to bring staff back gradually, and one in three (31 per cent) say it would keep their business viable.

FSB national chairman Mike Cherry said: "The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been felt right across the small business community, with thousands of small firms all over the UK fearing for their futures.

"The Government has stepped-up with a huge range of support for millions of small businesses and sole traders, from income support schemes, to cash grants, to help with accessing finance and business rates breaks.

"Policymakers now need to realise that the economy will not go from zero to a hundred overnight once we're into the recovery phase.

"The crucial support that's on offer needs to be kept under review, and adapted to reflect the new normal as we chart a course back to economic recovery."