A town centre restaurant owner has claimed local hospitality is “in crisis” after a spate of closures.
Multiple businesses have either closed or announced plans to close in Marlborough town centre recently.
The latest casualty could be Rick Stein’s restaurant on the High Street, which is currently consulting on a possible closure after failing to deliver satisfactory returns.
This follows the closure of other venues, including The Marlborough pub near St Peters Church, which shut in August.
Dan Bond, who owns popular restaurant Dan’s at The Crown on The Parade, says many hospitality venues are struggling to survive.
Mr Bond told this paper rising costs and falling footfall are squeezing businesses of all shapes and sizes in Marlborough.
He said: “The costs are over the top, it used to be a simple 30 per cent on overheads, 30 per cent on food and drinks, and 30 per cent profit.
“Now the profit margins are miniscule, who would want to go into this trade at the moment when it’s this diabolical?
“Everything costs more, and nobody has the money to come out and spend, the industry is in crisis and it can’t keep going on like this.
“Instead of expanding and planning for the future we’re just surviving, that’s the goal now and it’s so frustrating.”
Mr Bond added that high VAT rates are one of the biggest challenges that businesses like his face.
This is on top of rising costs for food and drink, energy, and maintenance.
He argues that if these rates are not lowered, they will drive venues to close.
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He added: “20 per cent VAT is just crazy, if they reduced it we’d be paying income tax on our profits anyway.
“As it is, the industry is stagnating and shrinking so badly, especially in Marlborough.
“I work to pay the taxman, I’m like a volunteer for the tax service, and that’s the feeling in the whole industry.
“The VAT needs to be addressed, but nobody is listening, this industry is not safe and everywhere from pubs to fine dining will be closing.”
The Rick Stein group still hopes to avoid closing its Marlborough branch after reporting operating losses on two of its companies on Tuesday, September 23.
A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are proposing the closure of our Marlborough restaurant and are consulting with the team to explore whether this can be avoided.
“Our other restaurants and rooms continue to trade well, but this particular site has not delivered the same level of return.”
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