A cafe owner has claimed that "absolutely astronomical" energy bills and a rise in business rates are the reason behind his decision to close his business for a second time after almost a decade on the same street. Jonathan Thomas first started trading on Yarm high street almost 10 years ago.
Having run popular phone shop JTMobiles for more than eight years, Jonathan rebranded his store as Coffee & Treats after a similar store opened nearby that he "couldn't compete with". He told Teesside Live: "I decided to do something different and that was the next best thing that I thought of.
"I went out and rented expensive equipment, we were doing really nice coffees. Every review that we've got is fantastic and we were getting there."
