The sun's out and lots of people are
too. Savoring the warm bank holiday
weather outside cafes, pubs, and bars.
And from London to leads, it's the
businesses themselves that are also
feeling the heat. This Italian
restaurant is in the constituency next
door to the chancellors. Her budget last
autumn has presented them with all sorts
of problems.
>> It has been difficult. We are feeling a
squeeze on our on our financials. Um we
have tried our best to mitigate those
costs but effectively you do have to
reduce uh your your outgoing costs and
at the moment that increase on national
insurance and minimum wage. We have felt
that particularly hard. We have 152
staff on our books at the moment. Um
whether you look at reducing your
full-time members of staff or just hours
alone. The bottom line is you do have to
reduce that cost.
>> Might you be forced to look at cutting
staff numbers?
>> 100%. Yeah. The bottom line is we are
already doing that at the moment. We're
not having to cut full-timers at the
moment, but we're nipping either side of
the shift. So, we're taking 15 minutes
at the start, 15 minutes at an end.
>> Others have had to make more drastic
changes with the rise in employers
national insurance hitting firms with
lower paid workers especially hard.
Analysis of data from the Office for
National Statistics shows there's been
an estimated 165,000 job losses since
the budget in October. Of those, nearly
89,000 have been among hospitality
firms. That's 53%.
And the trade body for hospitality says
it's only going to get worse.
>> I think unfortunately we are going to
see more job losses coming partly
because we're seeing more business
failures. That's accelerating. We're
losing two hospitality sites and
businesses a day at the moment. And so
that will impact on job losses longer in
in the as we go forward. And also summer
is our busy trading period. this is when
we should be staffing up and instead
we're shedding jobs. So you will see
that uh accelerate as we go into the
autumn and you'll see more jobs cut.
Unfortunately, it could get as high as
200,000 jobs lost by next April.
>> The government says it's supporting
pubs, cafes, and restaurants by
extending business rates relief,
reducing the cost of licensing, and
cutting alcohol duty. Yet, hospitality
bosses like Steven are adamant more
needs to be done. It's a really
difficult decision at times to look at
that workforce and think where do we
need to make those cuts. At the moment
we have managed to mitigate it by
increasing revenue. But what we are
finding is as the months and years go
on, especially with the Labor government
that is becoming particularly hard.
There's no win at the end. At
>> this autumn's budget, business owners
are clear what they want, a reverse to
national insurance changes and a cut to
VAT. Demands that may well differ to
what's on offer.
Well, with me now is Richard Krampton
Platt, whose South London Restaurant
Cafe Britley closed down earlier this
year. Thank you for joining us this
evening. Um, your restaurant, what
happened?
>> Um, we opened in the late spring last
year and the opening period went very
well. We had lots of fantastic press,
but we were looking at our margins and
um trying to get desperately to break
even. And right at that time that we
were maybe about to find an extra five t
percent, Rachel Reeves announced what
she did in the budget and uh we just
felt that it wasn't sustainable for us
to keep the business going in light of
all the additional costs.
>> Right. And those additional costs, what
were they and how difficult did it make
it to make the business a viable one?
>> So, uh, national insurance contributions
and the minimum wage rise would have
resulted in us having to cut 25% of our
workforce. Now, of course, we're only a
small business, but even one or two
people makes a huge difference. Plus
also business rates. So, business rates
for us would have gone up by about 140%.
And we can't get rid of our lease. So,
that would be something that we'd have
to pay for the next 5 10 years and we
just decided with all the extra
pressures of opening the business that
it was no longer worth it.
>> I mean, what was it like in that moment
when you looked at those numbers and
realized we can't do this? It must have
been emotional.
>> Yes. um like the physical toll,
everything.
>> So, it took about two months for me to
actually realize that the business I'd
have to close it. So, it took two months
just to process that. Um but yeah, needs
must and we did manage to walk away with
some of the money left over luckily and
maybe we'll do something again in
future, but this wasn't the moment.
>> What about your staff?
>> We had to let them all go and because I
delayed, we unfortunately gave it to
them as a Christmas present. So, uh,
that's I'm not proud of that, but we
were trying to desperately to find a way
through and that was the best time for
us to tell them.
>> And then you saw the numbers from the
sector.
>> Mhm.
>> What how difficult is it in this moment
to deal with all of these circumstances?
It's almost like a perfect storm of
everything at the moment.
>> Yes. Rent goes up all the time. So do
food costs, even chemical costs. Every
single thing goes up. And at the same
time, customers, they want to they want
to come to your restaurant, but they
also want to go on holiday. They want
to, you know, give food to their dog or
cat and they have to cut it somewhere.
And so, unfortunately, a lot of the
time, restaurants are the first in the
shopping line.
>> So, what would you say to Rachel Reeves
then? You seem to kind of blame her a
little bit for your business going
under. What would you say to the
Treasury right now about what needs to
happen to support businesses like yours?
>> It's mostly about legislation. And I
think it's sort of a death by a thousand
cuts. Lots of small things add up and
add up and add up and it's been going on
for 5 10 years before she even got in.
It's so it's in part, yes, extra
taxation means we had to close our
business, but we are we also had other
problems as well. So yeah, I I only
blame her in part. Also, my business, it
wasn't successful enough, so I have to
take some of the blame myself,
>> of course. And just in terms of whether
you would open up another business,
do you see that happening in this
climate and this and you're already
nodding I mean you're already shaking
your head saying absolutely not. I don't
want to do that
>> because you look 5 10 years ahead in
your forecasts and I fear that again the
legislation in the next 5 years is going
to get more and more restrictive
>> and so I'd rather hold my fire and wait
for a moment where I feel like there's a
bit more freedom for businesses to
operate. Maybe that'll be in five years.
It may not be, but at least for now,
I've I've had to let my dream go.
>> In terms of like the next year, then
looking at an outlook, do you see that
as improving at all? Um, know Rachel
Reeves talks about growth all the time.
Do you see that happening on the near
horizon?
>> Well, they have to take a more proactive
approach to letting businesses get on
with what they're doing. I've seen no
symptoms so far that they actually wish
to pursue that approach. So, no, sadly.
>> Okay. Richard Clmpton Platt, thank you
very much. former owner of Cafe Britley.
Thank you very much for joining us this
evening.