Chalk Another One Up To Covid...

Launderettes have provided a lifeline for millions of Britons in need of freshly washed clothes and bed linen for almost three quarters of a century. But they are disappearing fast – the victim of rising energy costs.

Not just energy costs, though.... 

The pandemic has played a role. Launderettes were one of the few high street businesses that remained open during lockdown, but this meant that they could not claim grants that sustained other businesses.

But they are the ones in the firing line, of course, since nothing can be allowed to intrude on the fantasy that lockdown was the savior of mankind: 

However, Bruce Herring, director of the National Association of the Launderette Industry, said that soaring energy bills ‘have been the real killer’.

‘Many launderettes had long-term contracts with the utility companies,’ he said. ‘These contracts have come to an end and prices are going up enormously. Most premises now pay about 12p per kWh for their gas-heated tumble dryers compared with 3p previously.’

And that we can lay at the door of another government policy disaster, can't we, Reader?