21 July 2023 , 19:01
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Soaring energy bills are destroying the great British pub and leaving a family fearing they could be homeless by Christmas.
Publicans say “insane” gas and electric bills of up to £130,000 a year are forcing them to call last orders.
More than 150 pubs in England and Wales shut in the first few months of 2023.
Former soldiers Gemma and Gareth Gardner, who have four kids, fear they will be left with no home despite working 17-hour days at The York in Morecambe, Lancs.
Gemma, 41, said: “The reality is if we don’t make this work we are homeless but we haven’t been breaking even for some time.
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“We don’t earn enough money to pay the bills. We’ve used our military pensions and had to get bank loans.”
Heidi Lane at the Crown and Anchor in EastbourneThe Gardners say they are lucky because brewery Admiral Taverns are “trying to keep a roof over our heads.”
But the firm does not appear to have the approval of all their landlords. Paul Lawton, 52, who runs The Stanley Arms Hotel in Macclesfield, Cheshire, is furious with their “greed”.
He says they were making a huge success of their gastropub but claims the brewery wants to sell it as building repairs would cost £150,000 and it wasn’t viable.
Paul says: “I got quotes for £21,000 for the same work. For us it’s devastating and for the community it’s devastating.”
A spokesman at Admiral Taverns said: “Mr Lawton has been given notice to vacate the property and any right he may have had to occupy the property has been terminated. We have no further comment.”
Even the award-winning Crown and Anchor in Eastbourne, East Sussex, is suffering. Landlady Heidi Lane, 57, said: “I’m so terrified every time a new bill comes in.
“I have told Scottish Power I am now in a position of talking about liquidating. But they want blood. They still want £7,000 a month from us. The only solution is for the Government to step in.”
A spokesperson for ScottishPower said: “Ms Lane chose to sign up to a fixed tariff at the point of renewing her energy contract in October 2022 and her agreed tariff reflects wholesale prices and the cost of buying her energy at that time.
“We are working on options to help business customers with their energy contracts.”
8 money changes coming in February including Universal Credit and passport fees