A Leeds pub has been forced to completely shut its kitchen and let go of its chef due to the extreme rise in energy bills.
The Railway Inn in Rodley has announced it can no longer afford the costs associated with offering food as small businesses across the country report struggling with bills. The family pub has seen energy prices double in just a year.
When landlord Chris Gill took over managing The Railway Inn around two years ago, he said they paid 12.5p per kilowatt. Around the end of last year, that had reached 31p. They're now looking at a huge 64p per kilowatt.
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Chris told LeedsLive: "We've been forced to shut our kitchen down because of the up and coming bills. They've gone up from £800 or £900 a month at the beginning of last year to us looking at paying £5,500 a month.
"We've sadly had to make the tough decision to let go of our chef Garth due to the fuel and food prices rising out of control. I think he had an idea it would be coming - we've been busy over summer but with this latest rise and all the other things we just couldn't sustain it.
"It's a sign of the times. We had to do it to save the rest of the pub."
Chris believes The Railway Inn has been serving food for about a decade. Located next to a good walking spot on the canal, it's advertised as a family and dog friendly pub with a 'delicious menu'.
As well as the rising energy costs, the pub's kitchen had also been struggling with the increased costs of buying food items such as butter and eggs.
"It was an awful decision to make, I didn't like doing it," Chris added.
"Obviously we made sure Garth had the proper notice of the decision and luckily he's been able to find another job. We've had loads of messages about it from customers saying they're sorry we're in this position.
"To help us we need people to keep coming out for a drink here and supporting their local businesses. I'm happy for people to order in now we don't have a kitchen - that means they can still enjoy the pub and a family meal while helping us and hopefully some local takeaways."
The inn wished chef Garth Kirsten-Landman luck in a social media post, where he received lots of well wishes from customers who praised the food offering. He had been working there since 2020.
The Railway Inn isn't the only pub or business struggling. Real Ale campaign group executive Tom Stainer has warned pub landlords are facing five to six times the usual running costs.
He added that if the price of a pint increased at a similar rate as pub running costs, customers would be looking at £20 for a drink. Chris didn't think they'd get to charging £20 a pint at The Railway Inn, but knows others are struggling too.
He said: "I've just heard about another Leeds pub nearby that's got a sign out saying the kitchen is closing. Everyone's bills are going up.
"We're hoping we'll have cut down enough with not having to run fridges and freezers to get us through the next price cap rise but we're going to have to keep an eye on everything. We'll have to make sure we're saving as much as possible as this all gets worse.
"It's scary. And everything is increasing for everybody - it'll be tough persuading people to come out and have a drink as they start to feel the bite of rising bills and food and mortgages. I suppose it'll be better to be together in the pub, and we'll try use our open fire rather than the heating when it's not too cold.
"We're only going to see more of this, especially as people come out of contracts and agreements they've had and their costs go up. That will make it much worse."
How are you or your business being impacted by the cost of living crisis? Let us know at jasmine.norden@reachplc.com
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