By Barbara Cossins.

SEPTEMBER and October weather gave all of us in hospitality an extended late summer and autumn with customers enjoying eating, drinking and relaxing outdoors.
This was great and we were all busy in the restaurant and pub trade. However, now the damp and cold days and long dark nights have arrived. It is hoped people will still celebrate Christmas and the New Year, but we are all worried about what will happen in January, February and March.

Huge energy price rises and soaring inflation over the last few months have made customers very cautious about how they spend their money – and rightly so.
Hospitality plays a major role in the local and national economy and it is important to highlight how fragile our industry is right now. A short-term cap on the electricity and gas unit rates helps, but we use a lot of units compared to the ‘average household’, and it does not help the rural families and businesses that rely on oil for heating at all.

The Government has again left us with very little practical support. Lowering the VAT rate would have helped offset soaring costs, even if it was dropped to 15 per cent rather than keeping it at 20 per cent.
All pubs and restaurants have to sell everything with 20 per cent VAT, which is basically a consumption tax we, and therefore our customers, have to pay to the government. It is one of the government’s biggest sources of revenue.
I’m sorry, but the Government just doesn’t seem to understand what it takes to survive as a small business. In the South-West we have some of the poorest counties in England.
The original Eat Out to Help Out scheme probably wasn’t needed, people were just waiting to go out and socialise after the lockdowns, but now it would really help. The Government won’t listen to small businesses because we don’t have an organised pressure group and it is time for our – and your – local MPs to stand up and be counted.

Our great British pubs are at the heart of town and village communities, and the true value of that is greatly underestimated in my opinion, but they are closing down at an increasing rate.
You can never replace socialising face-to-face with modern technology – we all need real people and Covid-19 and lockdowns highlighted that. You can meet friends and family at home but mixing with your local community is important and that is where your local pub is the hub.
This is the first proper Christmas hospitality has seen since 2019, so I’m pleased with the bookings we have in the diary. We always try to offer good value and provide quality local, home-cooked fresh food.

No, we can’t compete with big supermarket prices, especially on alcohol, and people have to stop thinking they can have cheap good food at a pub. To mention VAT again, supermarkets selling raw meat and fish, fruit and vegetables, cereals, nuts and pulses, culinary herbs and so on are zero-rated, as are most ingredients or additives used in home cooking and baking.
For ‘restaurants’ anything made ‘in the course of catering’ is always at the 20 per cent standard rate, and that is before you add in the overheads and labour costs.
Our hard-working staff have been with us for many years and always have smiles on their faces. They are part of our ‘family’ and need to be looked after to ensure we keep upholding the standards you expect.
But pubs, clubs, restaurants, cafes, hotels and other hospitality providers can only do this with your support. Love your local or, as the saying goes, ‘use it or lose it’.
Have a very Merry Christmas and I wish a Happy New Year to all of you!

Barbara Cossins is founder of Love Local Trust Local; www.thelangtonarms.co.uk; www.rawstonfarmbutchery.co.uk; www.lovelocaltrustlocalawards.co.uk