ONS: Over a third of Pubs close early in order to save on bills 

The ONS reported that many cafes, pubs, and restaurants had cut down how many days a week they open. 6% were found to have cut their opening days by two while 7% cut them down by 1 day. 21% said they had changed their operating hours but not how many days they are open.  

For comparison, only 3% of all businesses had taken action to reduce their operating hours due to high energy costs. 

The broader hospitality industry, which employs around 1 in 14 UK workers, has been particularly affected by rising energy prices, according to the ONS’s Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS). 

Economic uncertainty could also lead to price increases, with around 2 in 5 food and drink service (41%) businesses said they expected their prices to increase in November, while the figure was 36% among accommodation businesses. That was compared with an overall average of 28%. 

The UK Government pledged to subsidise businesses’ energy bills in September of this year, the most recent responses to its survey were collected after this took place.  

“Energy prices are by far the biggest threat to our business and the hospitality industry as a whole.”

An anonymous hospitality business told the ONS in October.  

Another anonymous business said: “We employ three local people to work in our business, paying above living wage as we see this as fair. We will have to let our staff go if energy costs increase.”