Business owners in Welshpool have questioned the need for a two-week national circuit-breaker lockdown in Wales.

All non-essential retail in Wales is being ordered to close from Friday despite levels of Covid-19 transmission being low outside the large urban areas.

In Welshpool business owners said they were effectively being tarred with the same brush as places such as Cardiff and Swansea.

Terri-Ann Ratledge, landlady of The Grapes pub, said she felt "victimised" by the new lockdown.

"I don't see why a little town like Welshpool should be having the same measures as that of Cardiff," she said.

"Cardiff's numbers are going to be a lot higher than our little town. The numbers around here are not very big at all and I don't see why we should have to lock down, based on other places.

"We're being tarred with the same brush and the same restrictions as what the big cities are. It's just not bad round here and people are considerate because it's a small community."

She said her business was down at least 50 per cent on last year and she would now lose three weekends' trade during the firebreak.

"I just hope the brewery is lenient and helps out. Two weeks shut for my pub means if I have to pay full rent and full bills I may as well not open the door," she said.

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Tammy Weaver, owner of wedding services firm TMS Events in Four Crosses, described 2020 as a "wipe out" for her business.

"We don't really see light at the end of the tunnel because of the implications of the restrictions both in England and in Wales," she said.

She said she usually works with around 250 couples a year and this year has had just five weddings, which have been a lot smaller.

"As Covid-19 impacts us to the latter end of this year, what we're now seeing is that most of our 2021 wedding couples are starting to get twitchy," she said.

"They either want to cancel our services because for some of these couples they've moved their wedding three or four times.

"For others they just want to move to later on in 2021 and we've even had some move into 2022.

"We're not just seeing a 12-month window of lost income, it's actually impinging into next year as well."

Ms Weaver also criticised the decision to impose the circuit-breaker.

"We feel a bit confused and upset by the decision," she said.

"We just feel we are such a small area and Montgomeryshire is a safe area and everybody is abiding by the rules.

"Our small independent high streets need to keep going and keep trading. I can't understand why the measures have been made across the whole of Wales."

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Shoppers in Welshpool's Broad Street during the first lockdown

Gym owner Warren Sinden said he was convinced there would be further lockdowns in Wales.

"Now we're to close again and it will knock everyone back a few weeks and I'm not convinced it's only going to be two weeks," the former professional boxer said.

"Even if it is, is there going to be another two weeks somewhere else before the end?"

Mr Sinden used the first lockdown to expand his Rigorous Gym business in Welshpool but said it had been a "financially tight year".

"My monthly costs are low, but my income is not massive either, so I've just barely got by really," he said.

"It's going to be tight and I know other industries are going to struggle a lot."

Mr Sinden added: "We've done it once, we can do it again, but it seems a lot harder the second time.

"My personal worry is it is not going to be two weeks and they might extend it, or might they let us back and then throw us back into lockdown again?"