Soaring energy bills final straw for struggling pubs, Scots industry chiefs warn
26.12.2022 - 08:43
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Scotland's pubs are in a fight for survival because of soaring power bills, industry chiefs have warned. Paul Waterson, honorary president of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA), said that utility bills which are “outrageous compared to other European countries” are driving people out of business.
He added: “People think it is small operators that are at risk but many of our members have multiple pubs around the country and are barely clinging on.
“Energy prices are tearing the hospitality sector apart.”
Waterson was responding to a warning from energy consultant Connor Wilson, who says power firms are profiteering on the back of the current crisis. Wilson, who represents about 100 small businesses – the majority of them pubs – says he gets at least one call a week from a client in tears as they know “it’s all over”.
He fears the public is being misled about the energy crisis and is angry that despite the wholesale price of electricity coming down by more than half since its peak in August, prices keep rising. He said the UK energy supply was hardly affected by Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine as the UK buys only about four per cent of its gas from Russia.
Wilson believes utility companies have exploited the situation to justify prices.
He added: “The Government publishes the wholesale price every week. It’s not easy to find, perhaps because so many people don’t want the public to know they are being ripped off.
“The latest prices showed electricity at 33.02p per kilowatt (KW) – well down on 43.36p a week before – and gas at 11.21p per KW, down from 12.03p. So why do the prices keep going higher?”
Tony Reynolds had a lease agreement on a pub that first opened in 1962. He had run successfully The Bullfrog, in