A cafe owner in West Belfast has spoken about struggling to keep the doors open as energy bills continue to rise.
Grainne Carson opened Patisserie G on Beechmount Avenue last August, and said she has poured her heart and soul into running it.
The business has become a community hub over the past year, with Grainne operating daily breakfast clubs, a book club, and a weekly young entrepreneur club for local kids.
Read more: Dog friendly seaside cafe to close as cost of living crisis hits hard
But now Grainne is concerned that she will soon have to close her business as energy bills continue to rise. She currently pays 19p per unit of electricity which typically works out as £700-1,200 per month.
However, she has been told that this will soon rise to 65p per unit, then 65p, up to £1 per unit by Christmas.
"I love being a part of the community, I love the buzz of kids coming in and out of the cafe. It's a place you can come in and be comfortable," Grainne told Belfast Live.
"You can go to a big chain, but they're not going to know you or your order when you walk in, you're going to get the same robotic service. It's not going to mean much.
"It's the elderly that come in here and stay for two hours just for company because they don't have that at home. I'm already panic-stricken about what's going to happen to them if we close, what if our elderly regulars don't have somewhere to go.
"We'll be worrying if certain kids are OK as we were helping them with breakfasts each day. If they're coming in here and having breakfast, that's getting them through to lunch each day.
"It's a bad situation. I thought everything was going back to normal after Covid, but the rising costs are just taking everything back down."
Grainne said the breakfast club was inspired by Marchus Rashford's free school meals campaign during lockdown, and a bid to make sure local children were well-fed before school each day.
She was inspired to start a weekly young entrepreneurs club each week in the cafe, where youngsters set up stalls with items they've made themselves and sell them, in a bid to help kids learn about business and savings.
The mum-of-two said: "When I came in here and opened up, I decided to help out by starting the breakfast club. You could see the difference in kids that had money and ones that didn't, but I didn't want to put a label on any of them.
"I wanted everyone to be included. Whoever donates into the fund for the breakfast club, we put their name into a box, one of the kids pulls a name out, and they win a chocolate fudge cake.
"We were planning to run it during the school term, but when summer hit, I realised how much we would miss them all. You're used to seeing these kids every single day coming in for their breakfast, and if you don't see them one day you start to worry.
"There's a girl that comes in here, Jessica, and we always said she would be running the place one day. She's one of those kids that would just go for it. So we thought, would there be anything we could do to encourage that with other kids in the area.
"So we started a weekly young entrepreneurs club, where the kids learn about things like costing, profits, and savings. We would just be trying to teach them wee things like don't just buy the first thing you see, check around and see if somewhere else has it cheaper.
"It's skills that are good in business but really useful in every day life. It just helps them become a wee bit more savvy. They could sell sand in the desert, they're all brilliant.
"They're a laugh, if you ask them where they want to be they'll say in the green, and they'll say they don't want to be in the red.
"We really focus on showing the kids it doesn't matter where you're from, where you're from doesn't define you. I tell the kids they can do anything they want to do.
"It doesn't matter where you're from - where you're from doesn't define you. I tell the kids they can do anything they want to do."
Taking to Facebook on Wednesday afternoon, Grainne highlighted the struggles she's currently facing in terms of rising costs and energy bills. When the kids who regularly visit the cafe heard this news, they started thinking of ways they could help.
"They said they would light the place up with candles if it meant we could keep the doors open," Grainne added.
"But it's not just having the lights on, it's having the ovens on, the coffee machine on. We've already turned our freezer and loads of other stuff off to try and keep costs down, but there's nothing we can do. It's the same situation a lot of places are in right now, it's just disgusting.
"I put a post up saying the clock's ticking on all of us, and it really is. It's heartbreaking because you put so much work in, politicians promise you the world, you vote then you get nothing. They're not even sitting in Stormont at the minute.
"They're happy to sit and bicker with each other, while the rest of us drown around them."
READ NEXT:
- North Belfast takeaway forced to close due to "ever growing price rises"
- Belfast man shares top tips after saving money on heating oil and fuel
- Mum calls for childcare subsidies after £40k costs for three children
- 'Over 70%' of NI households could face fuel poverty by 2023
For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here. To sign up to our FREE newsletters, see here.
