Reeves' raids mean no festive cheer for pub owners like me

THE hospitality industry is staring down the barrel of destruction and no amount of spin from Westminster can hide it.

- Adam Brooks

Without pubs like this one in London, community, culture and opportunity vanish

Years after the worst of the pandemic, wounds remain raw and the damage is still evident. For many publicans, restaurateurs, small hotel and cafe owners, the reckoning hasn’t ended. I’m still paying off a bounce-back loan - five installments of £800 a month, five more reminders that the so-called “recovery” is a cruel joke.

We were crushed by lockdowns, forced to shut, forced to borrow, told we'd get through it. Yet here we are, hurtling towards industry oblivion. Customer wallets are emptier than ever, people’s priorities have shifted — even a pint out feels like a splurge — and our tills stay silent more often than not.

On top of that, we've been hammered by tax after tax. Costs that in many European countries, like Germany, Spain and others, are a fraction of what have been placed on us, and a VAT rate double that of many of our neighbours.

We also had the energy crisis. If your electricity or gas contract expired, you were looking at bills 300%-plus higher. My small backstreet pub went from paying £1,500 to £5,000 a month in electricity alone.