The British Brewery and Pub Association warns that without government help job losses are “inevitable”, in a sector that employs 940,000 people.
London, Thanasis Gavos
Thousands of pubs in Britain are facing the prospect of a lockout due to exorbitant increases in energy billswarned a competent organization.
In a letter to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the two candidates to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister, the British Brewery and Pub Association warns that without government help job losses are “inevitable”, in a sector that employs 940,000 people.
Also, the heads of the big chains, which own almost half of the country’s 47,000 pubs, say they are receiving notices from the tenants who operate these pubs to close because they cannot cope with the increased energy costs.
Unlike households, businesses in Britain are not subject to a cap on what energy companies can charge per kilowatt hour. This means that in some cases the cost of energy consumed by some pubs has increased fivefold in recent times.
The chief executive of the Greene King pub chain, Nick Mackenzie, said the energy blow comes after a terribly difficult two years for the sector due to the pandemic.
“While the government has introduced measures to help households with this price rise, businesses are left to deal with it alone and in the autumn things will only get worse,” Mr Mackenzie said.
At the same time, ruling Conservative Party officials are calling on the government to help headteachers and local authorities deal with the challenges of rising energy costs and staff pay rises amid galloping inflation.
Local authorities responsible for running schools and managing the budget allocated to them are warning that if they do not receive additional government funds to cope with the pressures, then they may be forced to cut staff, increase the number of pupils in each class or make cuts in the curriculum.
Schools, like businesses, are not covered by the per kilowatt-hour energy charge cap that applies to UK households.
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