Five organisations representing hospitality, entertainment, music venues and night-time associations have written to the UK Government, calling for action over rising energy costs.
UK Hospitality, Night-Time Industries Association (NTIA), Music Venue Trust, The British Institute of Innkeeping and The British Beer and Pub Association have written a letter the the Government, highlighting the surging energy prices that are effecting business across the country.
Some businesses across the hospitality sector are facing a 300% price increase when it comes to their energy bills, putting jobs and businesses at risk.
“Pubs, restaurants, music venues, nightclubs, hotels and wider hospitality have reached the point where the conditions for trading are so prohibitive that many venues are already reducing the hours they open their doors,” the organisations wrote in the letter.
“Others are confronted with the threat of permanent closure. With chronic challenges in the supply chain, labour shortages, interest rates and inflation, rocketing energy prices have become a matter of existential emergency for businesses in our sector.”
Mark Davyd, chief executive of Music Venue Trust, said: “After two incredibly difficult years where venues have had to fight for simple survival, it would be an extraordinary outcome to see them closed and permanently lost because of an energy market that is completely out of control and not fit for purpose.
“The Government must act to create a genuinely functioning market for energy services that can deliver supply at a reasonable cost or step in to create an affordable supply for businesses.”
Michael Kill, CEO of NTIA, added: “The Government cannot continue to understate the escalating crisis within the energy sector, the contraction of energy suppliers is compromising the free markets primary purpose of generating competitive rates and service levels.
“Limited competition has resulted in energy tariffs that are already unsustainable, and without the Government’s intervention, businesses who have survived the pandemic, supported by public funding, will face further uncertainty, and in many cases, permanent closure.”
Image: Edward Cisneros on Unsplash
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