Britain’s Pubs Are Threatened by ‘Alarming’ Rise in Energy Bills

In Washington, Champs is a franchised business modeled on American sports bars, with burgers and wings on the menu and TVs adorning the walls. Ms. Armstrong said that she could set her own prices, but that covering the extra energy costs would require “astronomical” increases, doubling the prices of most menu items. Each week, the pub would need to make £6,000 more than it’s currently taking in.

Among businesses seeking relief, the most popular idea is a cap on their energy bills, as residential customers have. Another proposal is to reduce the value-added tax, a type of sales tax, which is reportedly being considered by Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. Ms. Truss is also expected to be the next prime minister, as she was well ahead of her opponent, former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, in polling of Conservative Party members.

Ms. Armstrong said she didn’t expect to be able to pass those V.A.T. savings along to customers because the money would be needed to pay the bar’s energy bills.

At the moment, Ms. Armstrong is considering reducing her open hours, limiting food service times, closing off parts of the pub and cutting back staff hours. But she’s reluctant to reduce working hours because her employees, too, face rapidly rising prices at home, and some of them are new parents.

But even all of these changes wouldn’t cover her expected increase in energy bills, Ms. Armstrong said.

Since the pandemic lockdowns, “we’ve opened up, we’ve had a really good year, and then to have this, it’s just soul destroying,” she said. “It’s absolutely soul destroying.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/03/business/britain-pubs-energy.html