A Saintfield pub owner has opened up on the challenges posed by rising energy prices as the cost-of-living crisis continues to deepen.
Pamela Turnbull is the owner of The Rowallane Inn in the village and said the cost of running the business has hit unprecedented levels.
"I think this is the worst it's been in the 10 years we've been doing this.
Read more: West Belfast café closes just 12 months after opening due to rising energy bills
"It's just the unknown now, the prices have already doubled from what we're used to and that's just the energy prices.
"The price of stock just keeps going up and and up too and we can't hand those prices down to our customers, because they can't afford that either."
Pamela told Belfast Live that as a business owner, she had waited as long as she could before looking at their pricing.
"We held our prices down for a long time but we've had to put a small increase on recently," she said.
"Our margins are still gone - if we transfer those prices to our customers, they're dealing with the same things domestically that we're seeing commercially."
Like many pubs and other businesses, Pamela says October will be a real month of reckoning with energy prices set to go up yet again.
"The electric bill has more than doubled and that's before October, when it's going to go up again and the oil is similar in that it's risen as well.
"Our bill is usually about £2,500 but our last one was £5,000.
"We can't weather this without passing price increases on to our customers and sure that would only drive them out the door.
"So it's an awful position we're stuck in, trying to get the balance."
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