"The biggest setback is our own costs rising" - Rising costs and higher energy bills mean it's a challenging time for restaurants in Calderdale

It has been reported that five restaurants a day in Britain are shutting as spiralling costs hit small businesses in the hospitality sector.

In Calderdale, 22 Bar and Smokehouse has just closed for good, while Sheesh Mahal, The New Hobbit, Tea Monkey and Disco Kitchen have all had to shut down over the last few months.

David Woffenden, from Coopers Bar and Kitchen in Elland, said: "The trade has definitely been affected, we have noticed a large increase in products costs, from the cost of lager to the cost of food products, we have noticed a huge increase.

"However, we opened in December as a restaurant, so we are a relatively new business.

"We have seen high levels of footfall through our doors, with customers coming to visit us on a regular basis, meaning that during this crisis we have still been OK.

"We understand and empathise with customers and how difficult it is currently to find free money to be able to go out and enjoy themselves and we are so grateful for those that choose to spend their time at our bar and restaurant.

"Over the next few months for our business, I think we will see an increase in customer visits, we have already had bookings for large parties over the Christmas period and think this will increase as it gets closer to the festive season."

Mohammed Rafiq, from Kiplings in Sowerby Bridge, said: "The present high cost-of-living and high interest rates have had an impact on businesses, leading to reduced footfall in restaurants and other food retail establishments.

"However, we have taken positive steps to streamline our operations without compromising on quality and service to customers.

"We are grateful for the support of loyal customers. We try our very best not to pass on all price increase to them."

Mohammed said the cost of their raw materials has increased by 60 per cent, making trade "extremely difficult".

"The increasing cost of energy and raw materials since September 2021 has put immense pressure on the day-to-day operations of businesses in the SME sector, particularly in the food retail industry," he said.

"The energy price cap in the UK has seen significant increases, with a 12 per cent rise in October 2021, followed by a 54 per cent increase in April 2022, and a further 80 per cent increase expected in October 2022 - gas by 91 per cent and electricity by 68 per cent.

"This has resulted in higher energy bills for businesses which has impacted our profitability and the number of employed staff.

"After few months trying to absorb the increase, hoping prices will fall but unfortunately price increases continued, we had a choice to make, either we decrease the portion sizes or have a small increase, so we decided to absorb as much increases as we can and then to add a little increase to the menu prices.

"But to help out regular customers with the cost of dining out they can now bring their own drinks which is a saving for our diners."

Mohammed foresees a challenging time to come in the near future.

"The material cost is not coming down as we thought," he said, "so we're just hoping we don't have bad weather in autumn and winter.

"Not only do we have the energy bills to deal with, but that would mean a lot of cancellations from diners due to the weather and being unable to get to the restaurant."

Lauren Midgley, co-owner of Brooks in Brighouse, paints a more positive picture of the current climate though.

"Business at the moment is surprisingly good," she said.

"Summer is always unpredictable with people away a lot, however we have kept reasonably busy with the exception of some quieter midweek days.

"We feel like we were hit earlier on in the year with the cost-of-living crisis, the general worry of the situation seems to have tailored off a little but we are always cautious about what’s to come week to week.

"The biggest setback is our own costs rising, the jump of some of our outgoings from when we first opened was obviously not predicted which continues to be a worry.

"We have had to slightly increase some prices but have tried our best not to, as a drastic change in price is only going to drive away our customers that have their own money worries.

"We do anticipate it’s going to be a challenging time for the industry for the foreseeable and can only hope we still get the usual busy build up to Christmas."