Hospitality businesses across Britain are being forced to shut their doors at least one day a week as soaring wage costs and higher taxes pile pressure on the sector.
A new survey by leading trade bodies found that almost three quarters of pubs, restaurants and cafes were operating at or below 85 per cent of their normal capacity, with many cutting back opening hours in a scramble to save cash.
The closures follow the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to raise employers’ National Insurance contributions (NICs) by £25 billion and increase the minimum wage in April. While summer trading has remained strong, the rise in labour costs has tipped many operators into crisis.
The survey, carried out by the British Institute of Innkeeping, the British Beer & Pub Association, UKHospitality and Hospitality Ulster, revealed that 73 per cent of businesses had less than six months of cash reserves, while one in five had none at all.
To offset the new costs, 79 per cent of businesses said they had raised prices for customers, more than half had cut staff numbers, and many were reducing operating hours.
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