“There is only so much blood in a stone” Nick Evans tells me in despair, “and we could not agree on a rent deal so we are pulling the plug. It’s just not sustainable.”
So speaks the landlord of The Waggon and Horses in Southmoor, who is not renewing the lease he signed only two years ago with Greene King READ ABOUT IT HERE despite the extensive work he’s done to transform the pub.
Alongside his son Seb, they had breathed new life into the village inn, confident they could turn the pub’s fortunes around.
After all it had worked at sister pub The Black Horse in Standlake, and more recently at The Old Crown in Faringdon READ ABOUT IT HERE – now a fine dining restaurant and bar with rooms.
“We can only survive on numbers, so please come out to eat and drink in your local pub. We need you, to survive”
But then came Covid, Ukraine and the cost of living crisis, and everything has changed.
“We had to say no. It’s just not sustainable when our energy bills have gone up from £23,000 a year to £77,000 and the cost of food and everything else is rising. Plus the lack of chefs,” he says.
“I can’t see how anyone will last the next 12 months in the hospitality industry as a tenant unless they have very deep pockets,” he adds.
“And yes it’s sad because we have put a lot of money into The Waggon and Horses but with no help forthcoming from the government we have had to cut and run.
“The government needs to cut VAT and help out the hospitality industry because at the moment it’s impossible to make money”
“If I’d known the costs involved and how things were going to turn out beforehand I wouldn’t have taken it on, but that’s just the way of the world at the moment.
“We just have to try to survive,” he says sadly. “It could be a great pub but needs a considerable amount of investment which can’t be added onto the rent.”
Redeploying staff to their other businesses where possible, Nick and Seb plan for the Waggon and Horses to stay open until New Year to give everyone time to find alternative employment.
“IIt’s just not sustainable when our energy bills have gone up from £23,000 a year to £77,000”
“We will be open for another 10 weeks and then who knows what will happen here. It’s massively frustrating. Who would want to be in this industry at the moment when we are taking all the risk?” he asks.
So what is the answer? “The government needs to cut VAT and help out the hospitality industry because at the moment it’s impossible to make money.
“And we really needs the public’s support, so come out and support your local businesses or there will be very few of us left this time next year. We can only survive on numbers, so please come out to eat and drink in your local pub. We need you to survive. If you don’t use your local pub you will lose it.”
