"The last five or six months have just been full of looking for jobs. Every day constantly going through different job sites, applying for jobs, signing up for job alerts. But still nothing, nothing at all," she said.
But it has been a long road back since lockdown. Despite retailers being given permission to re-open in June, Rowena only re-opened the doors in the last week of August, three days a week. The collapse in central London footfall meant there was little point in re-opening before then, and she relied on her online trade.
"The rest of the year is going to be very difficult indeed - much does depend on this rebuilding of confidence. A lot depends on whether we see resurgences [of the virus]. She placed 30 staff on furlough but was refused a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan because they had been trading for less than 12 months, and denied a local authority grant because the property's rateable value was too high.
Total over reaction 👇
Time for some real news from a real journalist