A bar owner has issued a desperate plea to Rachel Reeves as he revealed the extent of his “scary” surge in bills and decline in customers.
Speaking to GB News, owner of the Outside In Simon Doswell urged the Chancellor to “give us a chance” as the hospitality industry continues to be pummelled by her Budget measures.
Mr Doswell, whose business resides in Ms Reeves’s constituency of Leeds West and Pudsey, told presenter Patrick Christys the Chancellor remains “banned” from entering his establishment.
He said: “Most of the pubs around here have banned Rachel Reeves. I don’t think we want to see Rachel Reeves in a pub, it’s going to cause too much aggravation and there’d be too many questions asked.
“But we don’t see her in this constituency anyway, she doesn’t come in to this place anyway.”
Pressed on why Ms Reeves is banned from his bar, Mr Doswell declared that the Chancellor does “nothing” for the hospitality industry, especially since the Budget.
He stated: “I just don’t think she does anything for the hospitality industry, and she hasn’t done anything.
“The Government have changed their mind so many times now, it’s the same old, same old every time. So bringing her down here, I just think it will upset too many of the punters.”
Simon Doswell has urged Rachel Reeves to ‘give the hospitality industry a chance’ as his business continues to struggle
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GB NEWS
Highlighting the impact of Labour’s Budget on his business, Mr Doswell stressed how costs have gone “through the roof”, but customer footfall has also declined.
He explained: “Energy prices have gone through the roof since we started. Beer prices are constantly going up, rates, you never know what’s going to happen with the business rates.
“At the moment we’re just under the threshold, but you just don’t know where you’re going to go. You’ve got no stability, you have no growth, you don’t know whether to plan or not, this is the problem.”
Questioned by Patrick on what his message would be to the Chancellor, the bar owner told GB News: “Just give us a bit more of a chance. People can buy things from the supermarket a lot cheaper than we can buy them from the wholesalers.
The Chancellor has announced £1.7billion investment drive for northern England
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GETTY“So it makes the cost of our products a lot dearer, and people are drinking at home and they’re not coming out as much. We’re noticing that every day.”
Expanding on his declining number of customers, Mr Doswell stressed that if customers do come to his establishment, they “aren’t spending as much” as they used to.
He said: “We’re still getting customers through, but they’re not spending as much and the parties aren’t as big, that’s the one thing we’re noticing.
“Things are getting smaller, people are getting a lot tighter with it. Interest rates are going up again, and the whole thing is scary for people and we’re not being able to control it.”
Simon Doswell told GB News that they are ‘not able to control’ the rising costs
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GB NEWS
Asked what he believes Energy Secretary Ed Miliband should do to help rising energy costs, Mr Doswell urged the Government to “use our own resources” and drill in the North Sea.
He concluded: “We could start using our own resources in the North Sea. We’ve got the resources there.
“We could bring the prices down, we could stabilise the prices, that would help out the hospitality industry.
“If we know what we’re paying each month and we can get rid of the VAT element on it, it can give us a kick start again.”