The first dominoes in the cost-of-living crisis are beginning to fall as struggling pub proprietors are forced to make “difficult choices” to save their companies.
One bar in Leeds claimed that ‘out of control’ energy costs of £5,500 per month, up from £900 last year, forced it to close its kitchen and fire its chef.
The Railway Inn in Rodley, West Yorkshire, which has been providing meals for the last 10 years, has announced that the crushing expenses prevent it from continuing to employ its chef Garth Kirsten-Landman.
Publican Chris Gill recalled that he was paying 12.5 per kilowatt when he took over the family bar around two years ago.
This increased to 31p at the end of last year, and now, according to Mr. Gill, he has been offered a staggering 64p per kilowatt, forcing him to make some “difficult choices.”
Due to impending expenses, we were forced to close our kitchen. We’re looking at paying £5,500 a month now, up from £800 or £900 at the beginning of the year, according to Mr. Gill, speaking to LeedsLive.
We regretfully had to decide to fire our chef Garth because to the out-of-control increases in gasoline and food expenses.
We’ve been busy during the summer, but with this newest raise and all the other things, we simply couldn’t continue it. I suppose he knew it was coming.
It represents the times, I say. To rescue the remainder of the bar, we had to do it.
The pub’s kitchen was battling not just with exorbitant electricity expenses but also with rising food prices for goods like butter and eggs.
Mr. Gill said, “I didn’t appreciate having to make it; it was a terrible choice.”
Naturally, we made sure Garth had the appropriate notice of the decision, and fortunately he was able to get another position. Customers have sent us several notes about it, expressing regret that we are in this predicament.
We need folks to keep coming here for a drink and to support their neighbourhood businesses if they want to assist us. Now that we don’t have a kitchen, I’m pleased for people to order in since it allows them to support us and perhaps get some local takeaways while still enjoying the pub and a family dinner.
In a social media statement explaining their choice to close the kitchen temporarily, the inn wished chef Garth, who has been employed there since 2020, success.
We are bidding our chef Garth farewell today, the statement said. We’ve had to make some difficult choices, and sadly our kitchen will be closed starting right now and for the foreseeable future. We wish you well for the future and know you’ll give your all to whatever you decide to accomplish.
Amid the cost-of-living crisis, The Railway Inn is one of many companies that is having trouble making ends meet. Real Ale campaign group CEO Tom Stainer has warned that pub owners are facing five to six times the typical operating expenses.
“I’ve just heard of another Leeds pub nearby that has a notice out indicating the kitchen is shutting,” Mr. Gill added. Bills for everyone are increasing.
We’re hopeful that the savings from not having to power refrigerators and freezers will be sufficient to carry us through the next price ceiling increase, but we’ll need to keep an eye on things.
“As this all worsens, we’ll need to make sure we’re preserving as much as we can.”
It scares me. It will be difficult to convince people to go out and have a drink when they begin to feel the pain of mounting expenses, food prices, and mortgage payments.
“I guess it’ll be nicer to be together in the bar, and when it’s not too cold, we’ll attempt to utilise our open fire instead of the heating.”
We’ll only see more of this, particularly as individuals break their contracts and commitments and as their fees rise. That will make things far worse.
The British Chambers of Commerce’s leader, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, issued a warning last week stating that the potential closure of two-thirds of pubs may put hundreds of thousands of jobs at danger.
To prevent going bankrupt, some publicans are taking exceptional measures, such as extending final orders by several hours, limiting menu selections, and operating with skeleton staff.
The only way Melissa Evans, 47, has been able to survive so far is by managing a skeleton workforce and often working for free herself. She has been in the sector for 21 years and a landlord for the past three and a half.
Her bar, The Plough, in Whitstable, Kent, has saw a dramatic increase in its utility costs from around £8,000 for utilities to £33,000 for gas alone.
I’ve got to rethink how to manage the pub, Ms. Evans said.
In order to save personnel expenses, the restaurant only actually operates on the weekends and now closes at 9 p.m. on weekdays.
We have a small staff and could use a few more people certain weeks, but we’ve all agreed to work a little bit longer when necessary so nobody loses money. I put in a lot of shifts since I’m clearly “free” labour.
An enormous addition of £80,000 has been made to the Ye Olde Fleece Inn in Kendal, which dates back to 1654 and is already having trouble paying its yearly power bill.
The old bar now pays £44,000 for energy, but this week it received a price for £124,000, which its owners anticipate will be paid this fall.
A director of Westmorland Hospitality, which manages the Fleece, Chris Moss, said he had to dig deep to control expenditures.
Prior to entering the field four years ago, he practised emergency medicine. He recently told the MailOnline that due to the industry’s present problems, “it is now simpler to operate an A&E department than a bar.”
Pubs and brewers wrote to the government last week to warn that rising energy prices may force them out of business; some said their expenses had increased by 300%.
Six of the largest pub and brewing firms in the UK sent an open letter urging the government to take immediate action to prevent “real and severe irreversible” harm to the industry.
Acute assistance has been requested by Greene King, JW Lees, Carlsberg Marston’s, Admiral Taverns, Drake & Morgan, and St Austell Brewery.
‘This surge in energy prices will inflict more harm to our sector than the pandemic did if nothing is done in the next few weeks,’ said Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association.
“Consumers will now be looking even more carefully about where they spend their money.”
There are several bars that have survived the recent storm but now risk closing due to skyrocketing energy costs for both them and their patrons.
If we lose them, not only do we lose the associated employment and companies, but we also lose the vital centre of towns throughout the nation where residents congregate in times of need. Before it’s too late, we need an energy limit for corporations.
In order to account for the growing cost of wholesale energy, the energy price ceiling established by regulator Ofgem will increase by up to 80% in October.