Cost of living: Frodsham restaurant protests using no power dining

Mrs Nuttall said the service represented a "massive challenge" but something needed to be done to highlight the issues

A restaurant is to open with no power, offering only candlelit dining and meals cooked over charcoal, as a protest against the rising energy costs for businesses, its owner has said.

Vicki Nuttall said no electricity or gas would be used for a service at Frodsham's Next Door to highlight the issues facing the hospitality sector.

"We needed to do it to the extreme to see what we can manage," she said.

The government previously announced a scheme to help with rising costs.

The restaurateur told BBC North West Tonight it had taken "all of our brain power and all of our spare time and logistics to figure out how we can do this safely within modern constraints but also kind of going back in time using some age-old techniques".

Head chef Richard Nuttall said the restaurant had "reverted back to classic techniques" to create the menu

Alongside cooking with charcoal, the restaurant will also use smoking, curing and fermentation to prepare a nine-course tasting menu.

Staff will also use a fire to heat cold-brew coffee and water for tea, use a cellar instead of fridges, only accept cash payments and the restaurant will not offer wi-fi.

Head chef Richard Nuttall said the restaurant had "reverted back to classic techniques" to create the menu.

"We're cooking on coal [using] a cast iron pot, not a stainless steel one like you're used to seeing in kitchens," he said.

"We've got onions and carrots roasted in coals and we're dehydrating herbs next to the fire.

"We're trying to keep to the same standards that we work to all the time, but we've had to cut it right back."

The restaurant has swapped stainless steel pots for a cast iron cooker

Mrs Nuttall said it represented a "massive challenge", but the restaurant had decided to act as they were "deeply worried" about the future for the hospitality industry.

"It's pushed us well out of our comfort zone but we felt we needed to do it to the extreme to see what we can manage to do," she said.

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"We also wanted to raise awareness and make a statement that something really needs to be done so businesses can survive."

She added that the idea was not something the restaurant could continue with "long term", as it had taken "a lot of string pulling and logistics", but she hoped to "bring small things that we've used into daily practices".

Mrs Nuttall said the restaurant had turned to "age-old techniques" to produce the menu

In September, the government announced that energy bills for businesses would be cut by about half their expected level this winter under a huge support package.

The scheme will fix wholesale gas and electricity prices for firms for six months from 1 October, shielding businesses from crippling costs.

Mrs Nuttall said the scheme was "a relief... because it took a considerable chunk of the costs that we're facing, but the increase is still astronomical".

"We're still looking at double, almost triple of what our existing bills were," she said.

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