Brexit sparked multiple issues and they include ongoing trade difficulties, on both sides of the English Channel, writes Martin Banks.
Such problems area still being felt by enterprises on mainland Europe and they include Stonemanor, a well-known (and much loved) business in Belgium.
Back in May 1982, Roger George founded the business which is dedicated to the importation of British products.
At the time the shelves of the two stores it operates in the country (in Sint-Genesius-Rode and Everberg) considered mainly of foodstuffs liked tinned beans, Marmite, teabags, cereals and pies but this has now extended to several other product lines.
Its Everberg store alone stocks over 22,000 different products over three floors and both shops are now popular among not just the 35,000-strong British expats in Belgium but other nationalities. These include classic British brands which are simply not available in Belgium.
The aim remains the same: to serve the large British expatriat community, mostly in the Brussels area, as well as bringing a little part of the UK to Belgium.
But the business, as with so many others, found itself facing immense obstacles as a result of Brexit and some of these continue today.
The manager, Ryan Pearce, told this website about some of the challenges the decision to withdraw from the EU has caused him and his business.
It means that imports of fresh goods has now stopped.
On the main issues caused by Brexit, he said, “The biggest are the limitations in cost effectively getting goods direct from the UK to Belgium.
“Normally we are importing thousands of different types of goods per week and it makes the process very costly. So we now limit our range of goods coming direct from the UK and order mostly bulk purchases to simplify this process and keep the pricing more attractive for customers.”
Ryan adds: “Also, the customs process can (and has done previously) caused delays in shipping, which is why we are not able to import fresh goods from the UK anymore.”
He says that if a fresh shipment gets delayed by 1-2 days his business risks throwing away between €10,000 to €15,000 worth of goods at any one time and the time to financially recover from that “would be too much to risk working on retail margins”.
“Also,” he goes on, “many of the products that we would want to supply using the chilled supply system would, post Brexit, now require veterinary certification which, again, adds to the cost of the goods.”
So, what has been the reaction of customers to all these recent changes?
His response might surprise some.
“The feedback,” he says, “is overall very positive.”
Despite far more checks and measures on imports from the UK, the business now boasts upwards of 90% of the product range it had before Brexit.
This includes “some new exciting product ranges that we did not have before.
“The Irish supply of sausages and bacon has been extremely popular with our customers with shoppers in general preferring the quality and the price of the supply from Ireland, more so with the bacon.”
At the height of Brexit-related issues, the business was, in fact, forced to shut for a short spell, something that caused no little consernation among local UK expats in Belgium who, for years, have relied on Stonemanor for some of their favourite foodstuffs that were, and remain, otherwise unavailable anywhere else in Belgium.
Ryan recalls, “We were closed for two periods at the beginning of 2021, totalling about 3 weeks. This was whilst we were waiting for supply chain from Ireland to be worked out.
“But we were not the only business affected at this time as there was a huge bottle neck whilst many business were finding their feet with new logistics routes.”
He does concede that, since Brexit, the business has had to import most products from Southern Ireland.
He explained how this works.
“We receive 2 shipments weekly from the Republic of Ireland. These are chilled, frozen and dry goods. It takes 24 hours longer to get the goods here, compared to pre-Brexit from our UK warehouse.
“But, because this is EU to EU (ie from one EU country, Ireland, to another, Belgium) the paperwork process is simpler than exporting from UK to EU.”
Importing via the English ports, something the business had done for many years, is now a fraction of what it was.
He explains why, saying, “The customs declaration for each category for goods takes up the most time, which is why we have a much smaller range coming direct from UK. We now work very closely with a smaller Belgian customs office.
“The process has been working well for us for the past year. However there is no shortcutting on any of the paperwork otherwise issues will happen.
“Currently, there is no other way to make our process more efficient.”
One specific issue since Brexit is that some imported products from the UK now require veterinary certification.
As a golden rule, this applies to any product containing animal products or a mix of animal products plus items that also contain a high percentage of dairy within the product mix.
Although it is still possible to import these items they will, now, often be inspected by customs.
It all adds up to what some have branded a post-Brexit trading “bureaucratic nightmare.”
But it is not all doom and gloom and there is some optimism that, after a very turbulent first few years after the UK’s EU exit, things on the trade front are now starting to recover.
When asked to quantify the impact of Brexit – the extent has it impacted on trade and turnover – he says, “We are now in position where trade has normalised and we are back to operating on similar levels to pre Brexit.”
This has, he indicates, been made possible by ensuring plans were in place before the UK formally left the EU in 2020.
Knowing Brexit would have a big impact on trade is, he says, “why we put safety nets in place to protect us and the staff.
“Fortunately, we did not have to use these, and I don’t wish to discuss these because they are no longer relevant.”
But there is no getting away from the fact that his and other businesses in Belgium and mainland Europe have been affected by Brexit.
Ryan says, “Every single business that used to trade UK to EU and vice versa has been affected.
“Determining how affected they were will depend on the percentage of the trade spilt.”
Many, of course, still hold on to the hope that the 2016 decision to pull the UK out of the now 27-strong bloc will eventually be reversed.
Looking to the future, I asked if he can see Brexit ever being reversed.
“It will not be reversed,” he believes.
“However, I do believed that the process will be simplified.
The most effective way of doing this is to have trading agreement established between the UK and EU.”
He cautions, “But, even is a trade agreement was to be decided tomorrow, it would take over 2 years for it to come into effect.
“Furthermore the terms and conditions of the trade agreement would have play a big part in how much it will benefit what we are doing, so it is very hard to predict the outcome.”
I has one final question, bearing in mind the post-Brexit absence of some old personal favourites from the shelves of the store near Waterloo.
I asked which products customers miss the most since Brexit happened?
Without hesitation, he replied, “Scotch eggs.”
Another item, and this might shock that great franco-Belge patisserie tradition, is… “fresh British bread”.
For the mini army of UK and Irish expats (like this writer) who still rely on Stonemanor for culinary comforts from good old Blighty, there is some reassuring news.
“Despite the recent challenges Brexit has brought us,” he says, “we are more determined than ever to continue to bring the biggest and best range of British goods to Europe.”
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EU Reporter publishes articles from a variety of outside sources which express a wide range of viewpoints. The positions taken in these articles are not necessarily those of EU Reporter. This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools, with final review and edits conducted by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and integrity.
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