I remember first coming to this incredible city years ago, and in the past three decades I’ve seen many talented chefs carving out their reputations, open amazing restaurants — but now the industry is facing a bloodbath. I was 21 when I moved, and I’ve never seen it so bad. When I look ahead to April, when the Budget measures come in, I think those of us in hospitality are lambs to the slaughter.
Restaurants are already closing every other day. It devastates me because it seems no one in power is thinking ahead and considering where we’ll be in five years. We’re being suffocated. What’s happening to pubs is madness: there was already one shutting every day before these proposed rises in business rates and taxes. They’re being crippled. Restaurants aren’t faring much better — I live in Wandsworth and you can’t walk 10 metres without seeing another closure, another boarded-up front.
