New figures have revealed a massive 70% of pubs say they may have to close by winter due to the cost of living crisis.
Experts have also warned that small businesses are facing an “existential crisis” as they suffer the impact of skyrocketing bills.
This comes after the hospitality industry also faced major struggles during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Here, we speak to some of the owners of pubs, restaurants and cafes that say they’ve had no alternative but to shut their doors for good...
Ye Olde Victorian Fryer
Telford, Shropshire
Last October, Sophie Hodgkinson and her partner Bledi Piperi took over the keys to the Ye Olde Victorian fryer, a beloved chip shop in Telford.
Sophie, 29, had worked in chippies since the age of 16 and left her Social Care university course in order to fulfil her dream of running her own business.
But she says joy has turned to tears, as massive bills have left her crying and with no choice but to close down by the end of September.
Sophie says: “Normally, our gas and electricity comes to around £1,200 a month. But our fixed term gas has just come to an end and our electricity tariff ends in November.
“We’ve spoken to a broker who helps fish and chip shops, and last week he found the cheapest quote was £5,277 a month. We said that was too high, but this has since gone up further this week to £6,120. How can anyone suddenly find the money for that? It seems impossible. I’ve been in tears.”
It’s not just the energy bills that are soaring. Soon after the pair took over the chip shop, the price of fish rose from £120 a box to £230, and oil from £21 to £44, and Sophie estimates most things have gone up by around 44%.
Bledi, 32, and Sophie put up prices, for example charging £8.90 for a large cod and chips instead of the initial price of £6.30 - but it’s not had enough of an impact.
“There’s not a week that goes by without one of our suppliers putting something up,” says Sophie.
“The shop is busy and has loyal customers, but everything is so extortionate that more money is going out than coming in.
“In the last three months, shop takings were £97,000. Stock cost £60,000 and we have a VAT bill of £19,155, with £17,288 to pay after deductions.
“Bledi and I are currently working for no wages to keep the shop going, but we have six employees we have to pay, plus utility and upkeep costs.
“There’s no spare money left, so these new energy rates will finish us off and we’d be running at a loss. It’s heartbreaking.”
She adds: “I can’t understand how even a busy business like ours can’t afford to stay open. It feels like there’s no support out there.”
Molly Browns Dog Friendly Tea Room and Bakery
Portstewart, Northern Ireland
Richard Stewart-Brown says he is planning to close the doors of the seaside cafe he opened in 2018 next month.
The decision came after Richard, 36, received a bill for 10 weeks’ worth of electricity for £3,998.
“It’s not sustainable for me as a small, independent business with nobody behind us, I’m still paying off a business loan every month,” says Richard.
“There’s no getting around needing electricity - to run this businesses we need to have the ovens going, the coffee machines on, the boiler going. We use a lot of electrical equipment.”
Richard first opened his shop in 2018, and says his typical quarterly electricity bill never went over £2,000.
“However, it started going slightly over that and at the beginning of this year it went up to £2,800 which was a bit of a jump. It’s been rising since and I know it’s going to increase significantly again in the autumn.
“Somebody was interested in taking our lease, so I made the very difficult decision to do what’s best for my family and take the offer.”
Richard says over the past few months items from suppliers have also either doubled or tripled in price, but he is reluctant to pass increases on to customers who are struggling themselves.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of the people coming in to our coffee shop are cutting costs by sharing meals between the adults or drinking tap water instead of buying bottles of fizzy drink,” he adds.
“Because of the cost of living crisis, people’s habits have changed. They’re not going out and spending money like they used to, so while I’ve had these high bills I’ve not had the footfall I normally get over the summer months.
“No business can expect any family to go into debt or buy things they can’t budget for just to help out. It’s just not feasible.”
Richard says the government in Northern Ireland have offered no help. He adds: “It’s an absolute disgrace that they are letting small businesses like mine collapse after four years of extremely hard work of putting it together and building it up from the ground.”
The Live and Let Live pub
Harpole, Northants
Devastated landlady Miranda Richardson recently closed down her village pub after her energy bills more than doubled to an astronomical £112,000 a year from £48,000.
She says she had no option but to call time on her business, which she had run for four years, due to the rising costs. The final straw was a £7,724.57 quarterly gas bill she received in June that went viral when she shared it on Twitter.
Miranda said: “To even break even I’d have to sell roughly 1,400 pints of lager a week. On average we sell 400 to 500 pints a week and that’s when we’re busy.
“The bigger chains will survive but the smaller community ones, they are not going to be able to cut it.”
Santoni restaurant
Keighley, West Yorkshire
Marco Di Rienzo closed down his Italian eatery last Saturday after realising his business wasn’t sustainable in the long-term.
He opened Santoni in 2018, and said: “I think there is a tough year or two ahead with higher food prices, gas and electricity.”
His monthly combined bill for gas and electricity was rising from around £1,200 a month in summer to closer to £2,000 a month this winter. Food costs were also a factor, with a 20-litre drum of vegetable oil upping in price from £20 to £42.
Marco, 44, added that things were harder for his business now than they were during the pandemic.
He said: “I am foreseeing in the future that running a restaurant doesn’t make sense on paper.”
The Albany Hotel and Restaurant
Heywood, Greater Manchester
In June, The Albany’s owners announced they would be shutting, citing the ‘ridiculous’ rise in utility bills.
The venue, near Rochdale, functioned as both a hotel and a pub, and also had its own restaurant called The Orchard, which had opened just one year before.
After it was rumoured that their business had been sold to be converted into luxury flats, The Albany’s owners took to Facebook to set the matter straight.
They wrote: “It’s closed only because of the ridiculous rise in utility bills the last two months. The closing of the pub will be a massive loss to a lot of people.”
The Royal Crown
Aberdeen
Martin Tang said earlier this month that he would have to close the Chinese takeaway his family has run since the 1980s.
His gas bill rose from around £1,000 to more than £10,000, while an electricity bill nearly quadrupled to more than £4,000 in the second quarter of this year.
“These bills have changed everything,” said Martin, 62, “I’ve got no way to find the extra money.”
Martin said in order to cover the costs he would have to raise the prices of his takeaway meals by 300%.
He added: “But how much can you raise your prices before your customers complain?
“I don’t see how I can continue because I just simply cannot cover all this. The only solution I have is to shut the shop.”
