Plumber

The housing market has not been kind to tradesmen trained to build kitchens and bathrooms.

Nick Chapman, 45, a plumber from Harlow, Essex, said: “People are putting things on hold until they can see some light – their priority is to pay the mortgage.”

Mr Chapman, a father of two, still has his job, but is aware that thousands of people in the construction and property industries have lost theirs as people resort to DIY. “It’s better for me than for carpenters and decorators. People are wary of trying plumbing but they say any fool can paint. But I’ve had jobs cancelled.”

Pub landlord

Peter Eyles noticed the sudden change two weeks ago. “We’re still seeing the same customers, but whereas they might have come in three times a week, they’re now coming in twice,” Mr Eyles, below, who runs Cross Oak Inns, a chain of four pub-restaurants in Surrey, Kent and Buckinghamshire, said.

“Weekends are as busy as ever but Monday to Thursday, we’re seeing less people.”

The soaring price of food has prompted him to rewrite the menus: “We’re putting on more comfort food such as stews and puddings. We’re also producing dishes from less expensive cuts of meat, so we’ll use a shoulder of lamb instead of a leg of lamb.

“We’re working on the basis that next year is going to be tough.”

Nannies

The telephone at Bright Beginnings Childcare Agency in York, co-founded by Vickie Edwards and Christine Henderson, has been ringing nonstop with calls from parents who need nannies because they have to return to work. Profits are up and the business is growing. “I didn’t expect to benefit,” said Ms Edwards, 26, below right. “We feel desperately sorry for the parents who wanted longer at home with their children.”

Ms Henderson, 43, also runs a daycare centre, and it and the nanny agency have seen a big increase in the number of people looking for part-time care. Ms Edwards said: “They feel guilty about having to go back to work but they need the cash, so they’re making a compromise.”

Cobbler

Martin Middleton, 34, who runs the Greenmarket Cobbler business, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, with his father, John, said: “People will always wear shoes.” It is the sort of business one would expect to trundle through the bad times.

Less expected, however, was that the dawn of a more prudent age would make them one of the most popular shops in town.

“City types used to spend £90 on a pair of shoes, wear them until they died and then throw them in the bin,” he said. “Now, people are more willing to be seen having their shoes repaired.”

With a 40 per cent increase in business, the workshop’s two stitching machines for leather soles, which previously sat silent, are permanently whirring.

Sewing school

Throwaway fashion has had its time. So says Alison Smith, above, the founder of The School of Sewing, which has added an extra ten days of classes to its timetable. It has also expanded its curriculum to include altering, customising and recycling clothes.

Mrs Smith, who established the Leicestershire school in 1992, said that people are “going off the cheap clothes that end up in the rag bag after a few washes. They want something that’s going to last, and by making it themselves it can work out cheaper.”

The school is fully booked for the rest of the year and its shop is doing a roaring trade in sewing machines, lace trim and sequins as women seek to update their look for the Christmas season.

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