In his address to the nation on the evening of 23 March 2020, and with the NHS in danger of being overwhelmed, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for a huge national effort to halt the spread of the virus.

He told people they must stay at home except for limited activities, including travelling to and from work if it was not possible to work from home, in order to “protect the NHS and save lives”.

Following a turbulent year of back and forth closing and reopening of vast swathes of the economy, this time two years ago England was beginning to creep out of its third national lockdown, which had started on 6 January 2021.

The government had just started the country along a “roadmap out of lockdown” that saw most restrictions lifted in the summer, although some were reintroduced at the end of 2021 as the Omicron wave took hold.

The period since then has felt more like normality, but only by way of restrictions being lifted, as far from springing back to a pre-pandemic state, business has been compounded by a string of other factors like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and several resulting effects from that, the pandemic and Brexit, including rising inflation, interest rate hikes, the spiralling cost-of-living, and supply chain challenges.

The fallout from Covid and the lockdowns is still clear to see too, with the long-term mental health impact of the pandemic now being analysed, business survival loans taken out during the pandemic being paid back or leading to a string of casualties where businesses have been unable to manage these debts, and the ongoing fallout from Partygate, with Boris Johnson this week insisting that he did not intentionally mislead Parliament over the Downing Street gatherings during lockdown.

Speaking to Printweek, BPIF CEO Charles Jarrold said: “The pandemic definitely accelerated the structure changes that were going on within the industry. They were happening and going to happen anyway – any change has a level of inertia because it takes people time to be able to adjust and maybe bring in new technologies. But the world went remote very quickly so that transition to more online and targeted print and more integration with mobile and internet accelerated.

“In a broader sense, the ability for us all to engage in the business world, using both face-to-face, which is invaluable, and remote technology like Teams, used in the right way is a real enhancement to business and our ability to communicate and engage. But we’ve also seen that our appetite for face-to-face is as strong as ever, and that’s come back post-pandemic.”

He noted the industry has “recovered pretty strongly”, having been down by about 20% at the peak of the pandemic due to the shutdowns.

“The overall demand has come back – we’re definitely well above [during the peak of] the pandemic and a little bit up on where we were pre-pandemic.

“Clearly we’ve got some headwinds on energy and paper prices have been a challenge, but the industry has come back really strongly. When you look at how significant that lockdown was, and the impact it had on the industry, we’ve recovered extremely strongly and I think print is very sure of its position in the whole communications world, which is great news, and there’s a lot more we can all do.”

Brendan Perring, general manager at the IPIA, told Printweek: “I think the industry was facing a total existential threat. If we go back before the government interventions, I’m not exaggerating to say that our supply chain was at risk of collapsing, and major liquidations. You would have essentially ended up with tiny islands of our print industry left.

“But the government did listen and brought in furlough, CBILS and Bounce Back Loans, and they then listened with flexible furlough and slowly tailing down these schemes rather than turning them off, which gave our industry a glide path to try and re-enter normality.”

He said, three years on, the industry is now seeing many smaller printers consolidating and becoming agencies, selling some of their machinery and perhaps still offering short turnaround, niche, or speciality print in-house, but outsourcing other work to trade printers.

“Those who have survived Covid have survived, there maybe is a tail end where some people are still paying back loans, so it’s overall still a bit of a weight to carry. But really what we’re experiencing now is an overall lack of confidence.”

One of the biggest industries affected by the Covid lockdowns was the events sector, which was completely shut down overnight and unable to properly reopen until long after other sectors had been able to.

Sign & Digital UK event director Jenny Matthew, who has overseen the specialist wide-format display print and signage exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham this week, told Printweek: “For event organisers, we legally were not allowed to deliver events for nearly two years, the government would not allow us. Other businesses were able to continue to work but we were locked down for so much longer.

“But we adapted, we did some SD online sessions, which was interesting, and we got some fantastic feedback. We were working with our exhibitors to run online events where we actually had equipment demonstrations happening, with cameras set up. This was all done remotely so it was a challenge and not something I want to repeat! Face-to-face is the way to go, but this gave exhibitors another opportunity to get in front of the buying audience and it was hugely well received.”

She said the Sign & Digital UK team has also carried various learnings from the pandemic back into its in-person events, to make those stronger.

Print bosses have also shared their thoughts with Printweek on how their own businesses are looking three years on from the first lockdown.

Edward Bone, managing director, sales, Offset Print & Packaging
“Being a business where most of the day-to-day activity can only be done onsite, lockdown had less effect on Offset than many others. One of the main areas which changed our perspective on how we work is more strategic working practices; recognising the many benefits of on-site/in-person working and out-of-work time – both which could be seen as conflicting demands but, if managed well, are actually highly complementary. Recognising work has a social as well as productive element and, if both are nurtured, provide greater commercial benefit to the business, and personal benefit to colleagues. Being around others is, in the main, good for colleagues’ wellbeing, and provides a massive benefit to exchange of business ideas, ways of working and collaboration. Having quality time outside of work provides important mental space to refresh and refocus – which benefits every area of life – work included. The past three years have taught us that old ways of working are there for good reason but can always be improved upon. Advances in technology and social changes can work together to continually fine-tune and improve how work is done – to the benefit of all.”

Philip Dodd, managing director, Healeys Print Group
“I remember the first lockdown so clearly – we were heading for a highest sales month ever and that last week of March disappeared. The staff here were absolutely brilliant – furlough was such a great relief, without which few would have survived. The greatest changes were, in hindsight, to do with people’s view of life – some retired early, some cut working days and we also needed to adjust the numbers working here – something that is always difficult. From a personal point of view perhaps the biggest change has been to re-evaluate the constant chase for more – more sales in particular. Will life be that much better with another £500,000 of turnover? Oh dear – the pandemic has turned me into a philosopher!”

Tanya Dunbar, managing director, CPI UK
“[Lockdown emphasised] the importance of engagement, clear communication, and trust, both externally and internally. Covid and the recent supply chain issues have highlighted how vitally important it is for us to work closely with our customers, being open about our separate, and shared, challenges and consolidating our efforts to find the best solutions for both parties. Although probably the biggest ‘realisation’ was how incredible our workforce is (which of course I already knew!). In the darkest hours of early lockdown, when there was confusion and fear, and the majority of the country went home to work, our employees came in, day in, day out, working in extremely challenging conditions with their same drive and commitment. If they hadn’t, we simply wouldn’t have a business today. A stark reminder of how important it is to value our employees and do all we can to create a supportive and inclusive environment for us all to work in.”

Tony Gill, co-founder and CEO, Mosaic Group
“I'm very optimistic. I've never seen so much opportunity out there, everyone is crying out for good old-fashioned customer service. It seems we are now in a different universe, not enough staff to go around so it seems. So that's the opportunity, companies that have engaged staff who care will move forward. Companies that have no debt and cash to look after and respect the supply chain will move forward. The birth of the mega print management supplier, my feeling is that biggest might not be best. Lots of opportunities for those that go the extra mile and bring value and clever solutions. I think 2023 will see a lot of change in the sector and further consolidation.”

Gary White, managing director, Northside Graphics (Printweek Awards Company of the Year winner)
“In one way I can’t believe it has been three years since the first lockdown, thankfully it seems so long ago. It was such a tough time for everyone, and I don’t think anyone escaped the lockdown experiences unscathed. Personally, thinking about those times fills me with many mixed emotions. From thinking about how difficult it was for my family while I was in lying in ICU on a ventilator through to my colleagues who unbeknownst to me were continuing to work as hard as ever to try and make our business a success no matter what was thrown at us. Since March 2020, at DigitalPrinting.co.uk after the first lockdown was over, we started to recover, and since then, thankfully, we have returned to solid year-on-year growth. They were terrible times for humanity, and I hope they’re never repeated. We’re a social bunch and being locked down just deadens the soul as well as not being particularly good for business!”