‘Overheads have gone up’: Britain’s hospitality sector faces tough time this summer

Anglian Country Inns employs about 100 people at the White Horse at Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk, a third of whom are seasonal staff, but has hired fewer workers this year. Photograph: Joshua Bright/The Guardian

On a sunny weekday in Norfolk, the lunchtime rush is getting under way at the White Horse in Brancaster Staithe. On the large terrace at the back of the pub overlooking the coast, families and groups of holidaymakers are tucking in to local lobsters, plates of crab and fish and chips.

“This is our Christmas,” says James Nye, the managing director of Anglian Country Inns, the hospitality business started by his father, Cliff, 30 years ago which owns the White Horse and nine other venues across Norfolk and Hertfordshire, stressing the importance of the key summer season.