Teesside shops await budget as steelworks closure reverberates

North-east England is still feeling the effects of the Redcar closure, but some businesses are confounding grim statistics

It costs 1.35 for a Victoria sponge in Yasmin's halal bakery on Middlesbrough's Parliament Road. That's for a whole cake, not just a slice. "We charge what we can," said owner Shazad Ahmed, describing his shop as the "Asian Greggs" as he tried to tempt us with a jumbo samosa (58p). Business is not booming: "We're just covering our costs at the minute."

When the SSI steel plant 10 miles up the road in Redcar shut in October with the direct loss of 2,200 jobs and the same again in the supply chain, the reverberations were felt across Teesside. "It has a knock-on effect for us. With the steel workers not having any jobs, they aren't going to come and spend money in our businesses. They haven't got no money no more," said Ahmed. A customer, Tan Hanif, chipped in: "If that steel complex was in London, the government would have put money into it and kept it open."

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Related: Life after steel: can Redcar rise from the ashes?