Restaurants, hotels and cafes face closure threat

NORTH

- DANIEL HOLLAND Local Democracy Reporter

East restaurants, hotels and cafes are at risk of becoming “unsustainable” after being excluded from financial support from the Government, local industry leaders fear.Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that pubs and live music venues will get a 15% discount on their new business rate bills from this April, after warnings that mounting costs could spark a wave of closures.

But the support has not been extended to other hospitality businesses, despite their own concerns over rising costs from taxes, energy bills, and staffing.

Jack Brown, part of Heaton Group which owns popular restaurant Nest, described the 15% cut for pubs as “an insult” and said he hoped the Government would do more “because it's unsustainable for so many businesses whether it’s restaurants, bars, hotels or cafes”.

‘The 36-year-old added that the situation was “becoming harder and harder” for independent businesses and that the Government was “making it difficult to have that longevity”.