AS 2020 has been a year like no other, we look back at how life unfolded for the town over the past 12 months and revisit some of the top stories from the year. JANUARY brought with it the closure of a much-loved and long-standing staple of the local area – Newman’s shoe shop. The store closed after 126 years serving the town from its home in Crowthorne’s High Street. Owners said it was a sad choice but one made due to many people opting to shop online. The move left many shoppers gutted to see yet another independent business forced to close.
Then, the borough had an infection rate of 87.3 per 100,000 people over the past seven days. In fact, just two days before the borough did exit the national shutdown, its rate decreased to just 69.4 the 19th-lowest in England. On the first day of the month, 1,458 covid-19 cases had been recorded across Bracknell Forest since the start of the pandemic. On Friday, December 4, students and teachers at Garth Hill College were told to self-isolate after a number of people tested positive for covid-19 at the school.
By Sunday, December 6, Bracknell Forest’s transmission rate had risen to 103.6 positive cases per 100,000 people over the past seven days.