Godalming's small business owners have reacted with a mixture of dismay and resignation to news of a new lockdown.

Nub News spoke to business owners in the town after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the measure on Saturday.

While shopkeepers and restaurant managers took stock of the worrying weeks ahead and the impact the new lockdown will have on their businesses, shoppers flocked into the town centre on Sunday to make the most of the last few days before the shutdown kicks in again on Thursday.

Queues formed outside Waitrose and Sainsbury's as shoppers stocked up with essentials, and there were queues outside the barbers as men went for their last haircut for a month.

Lorraine Packham, owner of Thyme for Tea in Church Street, said she was "absolutely gutted" at having to close the door of her tearoom again.

During the last lockdown Thyme for Tea ran a popular takeaway service, offering afternoon tea and picnic boxes, but Lorraine says that this time she will just shut up shop.

"At the end of the day it's a hard decision but it's the right decision for us to close for a month," she said.

"We can't afford to pay the staff. Hopefully they will all come back when this is over."

She said that business had been good since the tearoom reopened after lockdown.

"The people of Godalming have been truly amazing," she said. "They have supported us from the minute we reopened, until now. If it wasn't for the people of Godalming and our regular customers we wouldn't have survived."

Nicci Austen, owner of Biggie Best in the High Street, said the news had left her close to tears.

"I am just incredibly emotional today," she said. "I'm trying to get through the day without crying about it."

With displays of home furnishings and Christmas decorations, she is pinning her hopes on a successful reopening in December.

And she is hopeful that the online shopping side of her business will help support her through the next month.

Although business was good when Biggie Best reopened after the first lockdown, she said, "This year has just been the worst year ever."

At The Sun Inn in Wharf Street, landlord Duncan Gray said business had been good, and customers supportive, since he reopened his doors in July.

"The customers have been understanding and it's been a joy," he said.

The lockdown is necessary, he says, because there is a bigger picture.

"I think 300 people died yesterday, and you think how many lives that affects, family and friends.

"Locking my pub down for a month is insignificant compared to that.

"It's heartbreaking from the business and financial point of view but you have to put everything into perspective, and at the end of the day it's about people.

"It will be sad for the customers because they need to come out, eat and drink and enjoy the atmosphere. I feel terribly sad for the customers.

"But we have got to do what we have got to do to get rid of this awful virus."