Restaurant bosses in Liverpool fear hospitality at breaking point as bills spiral out of control
The average energy bill has risen around 300%
Hospitality bosses in Liverpool say urgent action is needed or thousands of restaurants will have to close due to spiralling fuel costs.
It comes as industry heads issue a joint letter calling for an energy price cap for small businesses, or pubs, bars and restaurants could be lost forever.
It's after the average annual bill went up by around 300%, but the government insists any decision will be left to whoever takes over as Prime Minister next month.
Paul Askew runs the Art School and Barnacle restaurants in town, he says that may be too late :
"It does keep you awake at night, dreading the bills landing on the mat.
"The gas bill for a month at The Art School would usually be around a thousand pounds a month, you're now looking at two and a half thousand pounds a month, that's somebodies job.
"We need to have a clear plan saying 'we hear your pain, we know it's a once in a lifetime problem and we're going to react just like we did in the pandemic with furlough.'
"I already know of people who are feeling they are going to hand the keys back to the landlord and turns the lights off. It's very worrying times".
The letter in full reads:
Pubs, restaurants, music venues, nightclubs, hotels and wider hospitality have reached the point where the conditions for trading are so prohibitive that many venues are already reducing the hours they open their doors. Others are confronted with the threat of permanent closure. With chronic challenges in the supply chain, labour shortages, interest rates and inflation, rocketing energy prices have become a matter of existential emergency for businesses in our sector.
Hospitality operators face average annual bill increases in the region of at least 300%, putting at risk businesses and jobs. It is also increasingly clear that a significant number of energy providers have withdrawn service provision from the Hospitality market altogether. The primary purpose of a free market for energy supply to businesses is to create competition, which leads to improved services, competitive rates, resilient suppliers, and the ability to invest in long term and sustainable solutions to energy demand. In the Hospitality sector, there is unequivocal evidence that this primary purpose is failing.
On Friday, the Government saw fit to declare a drought, in the face of inarguable evidence that weather conditions had caused a threat to the nation. The energy crisis is no less of a threat and deserves similar attention. Not all businesses will be able to survive this onslaught, and those that can will be closely considering how they can keep their costs down just to stay afloat.
Hospitality provides 10% of jobs and 5% of GDP. It can be a powerful driver of economic recovery and growth for the nation, but it urgently needs a kick start. Business and consumer confidence is suffering, and we urgently need the Government and the leadership contenders to outline a support package for the sector.
We urge you not to allow the stasis of party politics to stifle the urgent delivery of action on energy.
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