A Kilmarnock pub owner has issued a plea to the public as small businesses continue to suffer during the cost-of-living crisis.
James Cunningham, who owns the New Murray Bar in Shortlees, feels that local establishments have never been more under threat than they are now.
He is urging people to drink and shop local so the situation doesn't turn "critical" with businesses still recovering from the Covid pandemic.
James said: "I don’t think pubs and small businesses have ever been under more threat than they are now.
"The Murray, like all others, are finding times difficult at the moment. We don’t want that to turn critical. We need our locals to support us more now than ever or we simply will not survive.
"The pub is the heartbeat of the community and I want to keep it that way, but at the end of the day it is a business and needs finances or it can’t survive. It is that simple.
"If you want to keep your local pub, you need to support it.
"The Murray is the last scheme pub left in Kilmarnock. Unfortunately, I’m not proud of that stat, which comes at the expense of the ones who have succumbed to high rates and taxes.
"If you are a local and you don’t want your pub to die, you need to support it now. It’s that simple or it won’t be there.
"Even popping in on your way up the town for a couple of drinks helps. We need you all now more than ever, with a hard winter of discontent coming."
James, who believes establishments are suffering as a result of a lack of support from government, added: "Everyone is in the same boat, all trying to stay afloat. It’s like a rubber dingy that keeps leaking and we keep trying to repair it but eventually you run out of patches or willpower and you sink.
"We don’t want to sink, but we have to face the facts that it could happen; and if it does, don’t say we didn’t foresee that happening. So folks, it’s only you that can save your local. How? Just simply by using it."
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