Britain | Away from the bustle

Covid-19 and the end of commuterland

The pandemic is changing British suburbs just as profoundly as cities

Never easier to get a seat
|HITCHIN

ROBERT EDWARDS and Mario Stephen have responded oddly to the coronavirus pandemic and the crash in high-street spending that it has caused. They have opened a hair salon. Although both men trained and worked for years in London, their new salon is in Hitchin, a town of some 35,000 people that is 50km north of St Paul’s cathedral. After a couple of months, business is good, says Mr Stephen, from behind a face mask and visor: “The lockdown made me realise that I don’t need to be in London any more.”

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “The end of commuterland”

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