Following the rise in the consumer energy price cap, business leaders from across the British Beer and Pub Association have signed an open letter to the Government and leadership candidates warning small businesses will close and jobs will be lost if immediate action isn’t taken on energy bills for businesses.
The letter, signed by six business leaders warns that pub and brewing businesses across the UK are at risk of closure due to out of control energy bills, with upwards of 300% price hikes reported.
Chief Executives of regional and family brewing and pub businesses to international companies came together to raise alarm of the ‘real and serious irreversible’ damage the energy crisis will cause if the Government does not implement an urgent support package that effectively caps the price of energy for businesses.
It is an issue impacting the entirety of the industry’s supply chain, with major CO2 producer, CF Industries announcing it will be ceasing production of what is a critical component in beer production and dispense in pubs, citing market conditions as a key decision driver.
The call from business leaders follows the consumer energy price cap announcement at the end of last week which set raised the limit at which consumer energy bills will be capped.
Representatives from J.W Lees, Greene King, Admiral Taverns, St Austell Brewery, Drake and Morgan and Carlsberg Marstons, who make up the Board of the British Beer and Pub Association noted that whilst action on consumer energy prices was ‘essential’, without relief for businesses many jobs and livelihoods would be lost in the coming months.
“In some instances, tenants are giving us notice since their businesses do not stack up with energy at these costs. These are not just pubs but people’s homes and the hearts of the communities that they sit in. Government needs to extend the energy cap to business as well as households.
William Lees Jones, Managing Director of JW Lees
Click here to read the full story and read the full letter below: