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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Lottie Tiplady-Bishop & Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Family-run pub becomes first in UK to shut due to crippling cost of living crisis

A family-run pub has become the first boozer in the country forced to close its doors due to the crippling cost of living crisis.

Landlord Shekhar Nailwal said he was left "on his knees" by rocketing fuel, food and alcohol bills.

It has led to him and his wife Alex, 39, taking the "heartbreakingly sad" decision to close the White Horse after eight years behind the bar.

The quaint village pub is well-loved in its local community for its unusual Indian menu served alongside traditional lagers and cosy inn decor, with a sprawling terrace garden.

The closure means Shekhar and Alex may now have to move their two sons Rudra, 10, and Prem, 14, away from the village they have called home for the best part of a decade.

The doors are closing as bills continue to soar (Google)

They may even have to change schools.

Shekhar, 45, said closing the pub in Doxford, Hampshire, feels like losing a family member.

But the dad-of-two was left with no choice after saying the government and Admiral Taverns, who he rents the pub from, refused to help.

His energy bills have doubled and the price of a box of chicken has gone up by a whopping £25 from £30 to £55, leaving running costs completely unsustainable.

The couple say there is just no way the business can survive (Triangle News)

He said: "The cost of everything is rising and we can't keep passing that on to the customers because people are already suffering.

"In a cost of living crisis the first thing to go is going to the pub and going out to eat. It's not just simple numbers, it's a lot of factors.

"We have been trying to sustain the costs since January. We luckily made it out of lockdown thanks to our customers and help from the government.

"But the cost of supplies and fuel has gone up so suddenly.

The pub owners alongside their children and the White Horse team (Triangle News)

"It's just all these small things adding up and adding up and suddenly the business is just not financially viable anymore.

"The worst part for us is our kids go to school here, we have brought our family up living upstairs from this pub.

"The most heartbreaking part is we just want a stable future for our children but we don't know what we're going to do. We haven't even got a place to move to yet.

They have "run out of answers" and say they have no other option but to close (Triangle News)

"We're all just in shock. We were hoping to get some help from the brewery or the government.

"People travel for miles to come and eat here and they're all devastated. We're all just really, really upset."

Alex added: "We've invested so much time and effort into this place, even sacrificing our time with the kids for the sake of this pub and the community, which we love.

"It's so heartbreaking because we feel like we're all part of a big happy family but now we have to break up with them."

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