It’s a problem the Downton Abbey butler might share.

The Heikler Castle in the south of England, where the award-winning series and films were filmed Downton Abbey, which featured the lives of aristocrats and their entourage in the early 20th century, is facing severe staff shortages.

The reason is the lack of workers from the European Union, which forced the owner Fiona Carnarvon to ‘freeze’ the castle’s main business activity, the organization of large weddings at the location where the filming took place.

“We’ve stopped being able to hold weddings of any size because of Brexit,” said Carnarvon, Countess, who with her husband, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, owns Heichler. “There is no staff,” she said.

The castle hosted 25 weddings with over 100 guests each season. Even now, weddings of around 20 guests are allowed, but these represent a much smaller proportion of the activities, which can cost many thousands of pounds per day to run according to the owners.

Revenue from other activities at Highclere such as the gift shop — the castle is open to the general public during the summer months — has also fallen, which Carnarvon says reflects not only Brexit, but also the blow to the hospitality industry. from COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.

The difficulties in finding staff reflect the impact of Brexit on Britain’s labor market three years after the country left the European Union, its biggest trading partner.

According to Carnarvon, the vital workforce of European students studying in Britain who could be employed at wedding receptions is no longer available.

“When we go to our usual staffing agencies, they don’t exist,” he said. “If we ask for ten, three may appear…there is no one we haven’t asked.”

The number of European students admitted to British universities fell by 50% in 2021 and applications by 40%, partly due to uncertainty caused by Brexit, university admissions service UCAS announced last year.

Since leaving the EU, Britain has faced labor shortages at various stages in sectors such as manufacturing, construction and transport. With Britain still recording higher employment rates and lower unemployment rates than most EU countries, business groups are calling on the government to relax post-Brexit immigration rules.

Drowning in bureaucracy

Outside Heikler Castle, dozens of chairs and some tables are piled on top of each other and unusable. They will remain so through the spring, as Highclere stopped offering afternoon tea to the general public, Carnarvon said, due to staff shortages.

Heichler’s gift shop also stopped shipping to EU countries — about a third of the store’s total business — because of increased shipping fees and procedures required after leaving the EU, Carnarvon said.

And other commercial activities of the Heikler estate, such as exporting horse feed, have also been curtailed due to the red tape and high costs involved in the whole process, he added.

“We are drowning in bureaucracy in every part of our work,” she said.

Weighed down by lower revenue and higher costs amid double-digit inflation, Heikler hopes to break even this year, compared with the profitable years before Brexit and the pandemic, Carnarvon said. Weddings accounted for 40% of all business at its peak.

But while weddings are down, Carnarvon is optimistic about a new source of income, selling gin, a bottle of gin priced at £35 (about €40), which she says is winning friends in the US.

“Now it’s starting, now it’s emerging, but it’s an activity that, using our brand, can bring in revenue to hopefully support us in the future.”