A GENTLEMAN with a dry steam cleaner in his hand greets you as you arrive. The smell of antiseptic lingers in the air but above all what shines through when you enter the Hardie Park Café in Stanford-le-Hope is a warm welcome.

And that, hope the volunteers that are desperate to keep it open, is a big tool in the fight against coronavirus.

With mixed messages still coming out of central government and little to no guidelines from Thurrock Council which has been strangely quiet on most aspects of the crisis and has made no solid information as yet about what should shut or what it will shut, the team at Hardie Park - like many other small businesses across Thurrock – are hoping they can 'keep calm, safe and carry on.'

That's the message too from the local residents who trickled in and out during the half hour that Thurrock Nub News editor Neil Speight visited this morning.

Even if it were full, the café would struggle to accommodate more than 50 people so it's not clear whether it fits a category dealing with mass gatherings – or what measures apply to restaurants or public venues.

What is for certain is that if the coronavirus bug is going to spread itself through equipment at Hardie Park café it will have a tough battle.

Thanks to the generosity of Five Star Cleaning the café is kitted out with all the sterile cleaning materials it needs, and the equipment to use it. Dave Ware spend his time with a steam gun making sure no area is left untouched every hour.

And there are gloves and sanitiser available at the entrance and at the serving counter.

Nikki Pegrum who runs the café is desperate to see it stay open as a 'safe haven' for local people to come.

"People need to come out. They don't want to stay at home stuck behind four wall, but it needs to be safe for them. We keep this place clean and sanitised so they can come here and be safe and protect their mental health which is just as important.

"We don't know, we just hope that we will be allowed to keep this place open to provide a place for our elderly and vulnerable to be and be safe. Places like this are a lifeline for people."

And that seems to be the sentiment around greater Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham. A quick tour round today showed the shops and cafes are open, the greengrocer's is busy and even the charity collectors are getting support for their good causes as they stop people in the street.

Whether things will change remains to be seen but the message from East Thurrock this morning appears to be stay safe and don't panic.

Thurrock Nub News Coronavirus guidance.