“Frustration doesn’t even come into it, it’s despair really,” admits a despondent Heidi Sanderson, whose small business has fallen foul of the rules around the government grants intended to help firms survive lockdown.
Together with husband Hugh Ayerst, she set up Hot Lotus as a pop-up 'hot yoga studio' in 2017, before moving to a state-of-the-art wellbeing hub at Stockport's Pear Mill, the following year.
The couple took ‘a big gamble’ to follow their dream - including selling their house to raise the money needed to get the business up and running.
But with Hot Lotus being crowned ‘Most Promising Business’ at last year’s Stockport Business Awards, their sacrifices were beginning to pay off.