We’ve all seen the images circulating social media of people stocking up on loo roll and hand sanitiser, but how are local businesses faring as fears about coronavirus grow in the capital?

We headed down to Balham to hear from some shop owners.

Nathalia Coelho works at Season Cookshop on Balham High Road and says she has noticed a few changes in people’s buying habits.

“We are selling lots of travel cutlery and water bottles. People want to take things in from home,” she says.

“Today I’ve sold two travel sets of cutlery to parents for the kids to take to school.”

Further up the road by Balham Tube station, Abdul Basit, owner of Lug-it baggage shop, admits the business has been struggling recently.

“I think business has been affected. We sell bags, suitcases and travel products and no-one is really travelling at the moment,” he says.

“It has been getting worse gradually. Sales of cases have really gone down a lot, only people who have pre-booked a flight have come in the last month or so.

“I should have been in the hand sanitiser or loo roll business,” he jokes.

Cindy Park works at the baby store JoJo Maman Bébé on Bedford Hill.

She says she hasn’t noticed any changes in footfall, but says she’s heard some people say they don’t want to leave the house unless they really have to.

Others have mentioned stocking up on dry goods, but she says she hasn’t seen that in Balham yet.

She pumps on a large box of hand sanitiser as we chat, and says she feels reassured that there is lots of it in the store to keep people safe.

Around the corner, Roger works at the local fruit and veg market, and says he hasn’t noticed any changes.

“There ain’t much difference here,” he said.

“It’s a quiet time for the market this time of year anyway, but we’re still selling to restaurants and locals. It’s not really affected us at all.”

According to the latest government statistics (as of 9am on March 10 2020) there were three confirmed cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) in Wandsworth.

This is about average for London at the moment, with Kensington and Chelsea seeing the most cases, with 13 at the last count.

Last week (March 4) Wandsworth Council leader Ravi Govindia assured residents that the council is well-prepared for an outbreak, but we should avoid creating a panic.

He said: “Good and effective planning will play a critical role in ensuring we minimise disruption to services for the vulnerable groups who are dependent on council services.

“This is of course a very fast-moving situation, but we are well placed to ramp up or change advice to staff as and when needed.”