Gordon Ramsay has warned that hospitality businesses will be like ‘lambs to the slaughter’ unless they receive urgent help from the UK government.
The 59-year-old restaurateur has never been afraid to air his grievances, recently calling out Heston Blumenthal for his ‘Ozempic-friendly menu’ and causing debate with his establishment ‘pet peeves’ and green flags.
In his latest comments for The Standard, the chef has said that Britain’s hospitality sector is ‘facing a bloodbath’ and that he has ‘never seen it so bad’.
The bold claim comes as hospitality bosses have issued a plea for Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to protect them from rising business rates - a request which, as of today, has been somewhat granted.
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Pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15 percent discount on their business rates bills from April and will not see increases for two years, the UK government announced.
Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson said the £80m package was worth £1,650 for the average pub, as per BBC.
Prior to the relief announcement, Ramsay, whose company operates 34 eateries across the UK, said that restaurants were closing every day as a result of rising business rates, as well as higher energy, staffing, and ingredient costs.
The father-of-six claimed that businesses were still recovering from the COVD-19 pandemic, during which many were forced to shut up shop as part of government-ordered lockdowns.
“We’re being suffocated,” he continued. “We need more oxygen – a reduction in rates of 20 or 25 percent.”
Ramsay said that it isn’t just hospitality companies that are suffering: it’s punters and budding chefs.
“We’re all going to miss out on a generation of independent chefs and independent restaurants,” he predicted.
“Everyone loses. The government’s plans simply will not work, I promise you now.”
Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has dismissed the 15 percent business rate discount, calling it nothing more than a ‘sticking plaster’.
“Is this it? After weeks of telling our local pubs that help was on the way, this is all they get,” the Tory MP said.
He added that measures would ‘only delay the pain for a while’, warning that ‘thousands of businesses’ will despair as their bills continue to ‘skyrocket’.
The rising costs come amid warnings that rural pubs could suffer due to drink driving laws getting stricter.
Government figures show that the number of drink-driving fatalities in Britain has worryingly risen to its highest level since 2009 - accounting for a fifth (18 percent) of all road-related deaths.
In an attempt to reverse these numbers, The Department for Transport (DfT) has suggested decreasing the amount of alcohol learner and recently qualified drivers can drink before getting behind the wheel.
The proposed reduction would see the limit falling from 80mg per 100ml of blood to around 20mg, the BBC reported.
For all other drivers, the level would be lowered to around 50mg, the current limit in Scotland.
Regarding the impact the new driving laws would have on pubs in the countryside, a spokesperson for the British Beer and Pub Association said toThe Telegraph: “The pub sector continues to face huge challenges, so any additional policy measures that further impact trade will be of real concern to licensees, especially those in rural areas,”
Ella Scott