Restaurants: Fears for future after spate of closures in Wales

The Brass Beetle is among restaurants that has announced it is shutting its doors

Industry insiders fear a bleak future for Wales' restaurants following a spate of new year closures.

Cardiff's Kindle, Brass Beetle, along with the Conway pub, all announced they were shutting as a result of rising costs.

Now calls are being made for the Welsh government to rethink plans to cut rates relief from 75% to 40%.

The Welsh government said it was giving £134m in rates support next year on top of permanent schemes worth £250m.

In the draft budget in December, as well as announcing plans to slash rate relief from 75% to 40%, it said business rates would rise 5%.

In England rate relief will remain 75%.

UK Hospitality said a typical Welsh pub or restaurant could now pay an average £6,800 more than similar businesses in England.

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Cardiff pub and restaurant owner Cerys Furlong said businesses were facing pressures on all fronts.

Her own food and energy costs had more than doubled, she said, adding that the UK's 20% VAT rate was one of Europe's highest.

Cardiff pub and restaurant owner Cerys Furlong, said businesses were facing pressures on all fronts

Cutting rate relief, she believes, would damage the hospitality sector - responsible for 8.5% of UK jobs and branded the plan "short sighted".

"It would be interesting to see what analysis they've done on the impact it would have on jobs and business failures," she said.

Simon Wright has 35 years experience in hospitality and said the situation was the worst he had faced.

"I do think Welsh government will want to look again at their draft budget," he said.

"The idea you're going to raise more money from businesses is reliant on those businesses actually existing."

Food business PR consultant Jane Cook said businesses were struggling

Food business PR consultant Jane Cook said businesses were struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel and were "looking ahead and feeling quite worried for their futures".

Ms Furlong said helping hospitality helped the economy.

"That's what the Welsh government says it wants to do," she said.

"Well let's see it incentivise that and allow it to continue."

The Welsh government said thousands of small businesses were exempt from paying any rates.

It said it was providing a fifth successive year of support for retail, leisure and hospitality businesses with their rates bills, costing £78m.

A spokesman said: "This builds on the almost £1bn of support provided in rates relief schemes to these sectors since 2020-21.

"A new £20m capital fund will also be developed for 2024-25 to provide support to help retail, leisure and hospitality businesses future-proof their businesses."