HUNDREDS of businesses have been set up across the city during the coronavirus pandemic according to the latest data and here are some of the stories from those lockdown entrepreneurs who have worked the spare time in their favour.

Dance fanatic Tori McCann, who lives in Warndon Villages, was furloughed from her job in marketing at Cheltenham Racecourse in March but used the time to finally qualify as a barre fitness instructor.

Barre is a ballet-inspired workout that combines elements of dance, yoga, Pilates and other fitness moves.

The 23-year-old has since started teaching online classes via Zoom and her biggest week saw more than 80 people join in.

"I've always loved dance and I got into barre just as a way to keep up with ballet. I always wanted to do the qualification but never got round to finishing it and the time at home during lockdown allowed me to do that and get stuck in," she said.

"I started teaching online just to get a bit of practice and drum up a bit of interest before starting to teach in studios but that has grown and I'm going to stay online even as we head out of lockdown because people are really liking doing it from home.

"They really can dance like nobody is watching them.

"I'm doing six classes a week now and I wouldn't have had that time before lockdown if I was working full time."

With a bit of luck on his side, Joe Higgs has managed to turn his hobby for car detailing into a business after finding a kitted-out van to allow him to ply his trade.

“Ultimate Detailing was something I set up a couple of weeks into lockdown. I was off for a few months during lockdown which led me to start the business and it has been going alright ever since,” he said.

“Detailing cars has always been my hobby and I’ve always had the chemicals I’ve just never had the van or the gear to go inside it but one came up for sale locally with everything in the back so went and picked it up, got some advertising done and it all went from there."

The renewed focus on hygiene was brilliant timing for Rebecca Taylor, who set up The Kleaning Company in the city during lockdown, offering intense 'sparkle cleaning' for new housing developments and other large builds as well as covid deep cleaning using dry fog.

"The business was set up at the end of May," she said.

"We deal with anything from new houses to gyms to storage lockers, pubs and shops.

"Normally all of these things require a proper cleaning before they open so that is where we come in."