LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER
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HOSPITALITY HIT BY BILLS AND STRIKES
TUESDAY 30 MAY 2023
ISSUE 3,986
CITYAM.COM
FREE
WALKOUTS TO ADD TO PRESSURE OF RISING ENERGY BILLS LAURA MCGUIRE, GUY TAYLOR AND STAFF RAIL STRIKES this week are set to add to the woes of the hospitality industry, already bruised by the almost-doubling cost of energy bills. Industrial action by the RMT and ASLEF unions will see walkouts on three separate days of what would have been a busy week for bars and pubs. Staff will walk out to varying degrees on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with the latter causing particular chaos for fans heading to the Epsom Derby and the FA Cup Final. In what has been a tough year for hospitality businesses, amid soaring energy costs and a cut-down in consumer spending, Michael Kill, head of the Night Time Industries Association, told City A.M. that owners are losing revenue due to customers and staff having “limited access to critical transport infrastructure”. He said: “Our industry is once again being crippled by industrial action…
some businesses, particularly festivals, think their survival could be down to whether strike action takes place over their particular trading days.” The sector’s trade body UK Hospitality expects the strikes to wipe out £132m-worth of sales, bringing the overall bill for industrial action to around £3bn over the past year. Both unions have been involved in a fierce dispute with the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) and the Department for Transport (DfT) over pay and conditions since last year. The walkouts come at a difficult time for the industry, which is already dealing with increased energy bills. Data collected by CGA by Nielsen IQ suggests pubs, bars and restaurants have seen energy bills surge some 81 per cent over the past year. UK Hospitality has called on the government for more support to help businesses weather the storm. The government introduced an emergency package over the winter but since that came to an end in
April, pubs have seen little benefit from its replacement Energy Bills Discount Scheme. One south London pub’s energy bill seen by City A.M. shows an overall increase of around £900 on bills over the winter, offset with just £30 of government support. “The government must recognise this crisis isn’t just crippling businesses now,” a statement from the British Institute of Innkeeping, UK Hospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association and Hospitality Ulster said. “Left unresolved it will have a lasting wider impact long into the future, impacting local employment, supply chains and removing essential community hubs from villages, towns and cities across the whole of the UK.” A government spokeswoman said: “We acted swiftly to provide businesses... with an unprecedented package of support. As of April, this has saved them £6.9bn on energy costs... enabling some to only pay around half of predicted wholesale energy costs.”
SUMMER SUN Brits finally enjoy some spring-like temperatures CITY A.M. REPORTERS WARMER temperatures finally arrived on Britain’s shores over the weekend, with Londoners sun seeking both in the capital and down on the south coast.
Retailers will be looking for a boost as the traditionally lucrative summer shopping season begins in earnest, with Brits readying for days out in the better weather. Sales figures released last week suggested that a damp spring had hit high street sales.
India moves forward with ‘graft’ investigation into BAE Systems and Rolls CITY A.M. REPORTERS INDIAN authorities yesterday took the next step in a long-running, historic case against BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce over alleged graft almost 20 years ago. The authorities allege a “criminal conspiracy” related to the purchase
of training jets in 2005, with Indian prosecutors saying in a document seen by Reuters that the deal was done as a result of “huge bribes, commissions and kickbacks”. The allegations relate to an investigation by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in 2012 related to deals made by Rolls-Royce in
countries including China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, which was settled with a deferred prosecution agreement and a £497m fine in 2017. “Rolls-Royce is continuing to assist the Indian authorities. The allegations being investigated by the CBI were disclosed in the Deferred
Prosecution Agreement agreed with the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in 2017. Rolls-Royce today is a fundamentally different business. We will not tolerate business misconduct of any sort and are committed to maintaining high ethical standards. India remains an important market for Rolls-Royce
and we have a valued ecosystem of skilled people and partners in the country,” a Rolls-Royce spokesperson told City A.M. A BAE spokesperson said it was “committed to maintaining high standards of ethical conduct” and said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on an ongoing probe.
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