The owner of a well-known rural bar in Co Tyrone says he has had to shut down its food offering and could close completely due to rising costs.
Patrick Donaghue runs the 200-year-old Eddie’s Bar in Greencastle and had opened a chippy on the premises when he took it over in early 2020.
Following on from the impact of Covid 19 and now the cost of living crisis, Patrick says his electric bill is four times bigger than it was when he first took over the business.
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Now he has made the decision to close the chippy, leaving the village with no takeaway food options to choose from. He told Belfast Live the impact of the cost of living crisis has had a worse impact on the hospitality industry than the pandemic.
“We just couldn’t keep doing it, our electric bill has quadrupled since we first took over the place,” Patrick said.
“Our electric bill used to be £70 a week and now we are paying £320 a week
“Cooking oil is through the roof, the price of gas to run the cookers and paying staff to manage everything, we just couldn’t absorb the costs any more.
“Even bars now, particularly rural bars aren’t doing that great. People are at home and their own costs are going up so they don’t have money to spend themselves, it’s like a vicious circle.
“It is way worse than Covid, at least we got support then. Everything is just adding up.”
Patrick added he believes the cost of living crisis is disproportionately affecting small businesses, and said he is worried for the future of the pub if costs continue to rise.
“We renewed our lease earlier this year and part of you definitely thinks why did I do that?
“I feel really bad because we would know all of our customers, there’s not one that would come in and you wouldn’t have a chat with.
“You feel like you’re letting them down because there is nowhere else around here to get food and no one delivers here as we’re a bit too far away from Omagh and Cookstown.
“There will be a lot of people disappointed I’m sure, and then there’s the staff as well because we know them all really well.
“I feel like I have let them down but if I didn’t do this now I would struggle to keep the bar open seven days a week.
“It’s kind of heartbreaking. We have some young staff relying on those jobs to pay their own bills, I think it hits you a bit more than if you were running a big bar in the city or something.
“There is talk of this going on for the next two years, how could you keep your doors open? I have staff here that have literally been here more than 40 years.
“It’s the kind of thing that would keep you awake at night.”
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