North East pub owners have warned of a bleak winter and an uncertain future as rising energy costs force businesses to increase prices due to an impeding threat of closure.

Pubs and brewers are at risk of closure within months amid price hikes upwards of 300 per cent, industry bosses have warned, with drinkers in line to stomach a hike in the cost of a pint.

It comes as several pubs across the North East and North Yorkshire have announced their closure in recent weeks, saying their energy bills are unsurvivable.

Meanwhile other pubs have announced reductions to trading hours, staffing and resources as they try to make ends meet.

And at The Crown Inn at Grewelthorpe, near Ripon in North Yorkshire, Paul Dixon and Debbie Heartfield have decided to close the pub for two days a week to save costs.

But it is not just the recent rise in energy bills that Paul says is an issue.

A series of previous crises including the Covid pandemic and staffing issues have added to publicans concerns in the past two years.

“A lot of pubs have not recovered after the Covid crisis,” he said. “Bills are sky-high and people don’t have the footfall.”

Read more: Soaring energy bills 'will lead to suicide'

The Northern Echo: The Crown Inn is popular with walkers in summer but owner Paul Dixon reported a recent 50 per cent drop in footfallThe Crown Inn is popular with walkers in summer but owner Paul Dixon reported a recent 50 per cent drop in footfall

Rising energy bills and maintenance costs meant the couple had difficult decisions to make, including the recent move to shut on Monday’s and Tuesday’s.

Paul said: “It was a tough decision to take but we are a seasonal pub and it gets quiet in the winter. When you have got the prices of fuel going up to turn all the equipment on it all adds up – it’s not viable.”

The owners of the North Yorkshire pub’s concerns come as bosses of six of the UK’s biggest pub and brewing companies warned of “real and serious irreversible” damage to the sector if government help isn’t provided.

Paul talks of a “bleak” winter ahead for his business and others in the area but says they will continue to “ride the storm” despite clinging on by their fingertips.

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“Businesses are suffering,” he added.

“I think people are just not coming out enough anymore. The lunch trade was one of the mainstays in the summer for us but the number of walkers we get has diminished dramatically. We have noticed out lunch trade this summer has gone down 50 per cent and that’s a big hit to take.

An added issue facing small businesses is that they operate without a regulated price cap, with some pub owners warning that their bills have quadrupled or are struggling to even find suppliers willing to power their venues when contracts come up for renewal.

Without any small business alternative to the consumer price cap, operators could face runaway energy costs as the price of gas continues to surge.

And some owners are skeptical whether any government support is due. Paul said: “We have heard that the government are looking at providing support but that’s all we ever hear. The excuse of waiting for the prime minister to be allocated is a very weak one.

“They don’t realise how much mental stress it puts on business owners. There’s going to be massive pub closures.”

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