THE OWNER of a Wrexham salon has been fined for keeping her business open during the Covid lockdown.

Natalie Hewitt, who owns Smooch Nails and Beauty on Chester Street, was found guilty by magistrates and fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.

The offence took place in January of this year, when Wales was in Alert Level 4.

Roger Mapleson, Wrexham Council's Trading Standards and Licensing lead, said: “During lockdown many businesses were required by law to close their doors to customers in order to keep them and everyone around them safe from Covid-19.

“The vast majority of businesses closed as required and in the process suffered substantial losses.

"A handful of business owners were found to be open and ignoring the requirement to close resulting in the serving of a fixed penalty notice. In this case the penalty was not paid leaving the Authority no option but to prosecute.”