Tom Kerridge reveals 700% increase in cost of electricity 'from £60,000 to £480,000 a year' at his Marlow eatery - as Fuller's faces a hike from £8million to £18million for its 385-pub empire
- Tom Kerridge's The Hand and Flowers pub saw 700% bill hike, the chef revealed
- He previously said one of his Marlow pubs faced hike from £60,000 to £420,000
- Mr Kerridge did not reveal which pub saw that hike of 600%, but if it was The Hand and Flowers it would mean the new 700% figure means a bill of £480,000
- But businesses are still facing a wait for details about additional support
- Fuller's has said its gas and electricity bill will soar without Government support
Top chef Tom Kerridge (pictured) has revealed his despair at facing a near 700 per cent surge in electricity costs
Celebrity chef Tom Kerridge has revealed his despair at facing a near 700 per cent surge in electricity costs for one of his pubs, as Fuller's says it faces a hike from £8million to £18million a year for its 385-pub empire.
The Michelin-starred chef said his pub The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, received a quote for its electricity bill that increased close to 700 per cent.
And pub group Fuller's has said its gas and electricity bill will soar by £10 million without Government support, as struggling firms await details of a package set to be unveiled this week.
Mr Kerridge, who owns three pubs based in Marlow as well as five other restaurants and bars, told GB News that the Government needs to rapidly introduce a price cap for businesses to save the hospitality industry.
The celebrity chef had earlier this month revealed that the electricity bill at one of his pubs would soar from £60,000 to a staggering £420,000 a year - a 600 per cent increase.
He said the quote has come from his existing electricity supplier for when the contract ends in December and worries because many of his appliances use electricity - including the stoves, the ovens and the fridges.
Mr Kerridge did not reveal which of his establishments faced the £420,000 energy bill - but if it was The Hand and Flowers, which he today said was facing the 700 per cent increase, it would mean the pub now faces a bill approaching £480,000 a year.
It came as Fuller's, which owns 385 pubs, said it expects its energy bill to more-than-double from £8 million to £18 million for this year.
The Michelin-starred chef said his pub The Hand and Flowers (pictured), located in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, recently received a quote for its electricity bill that had rocketed close to 700 per cent, as Britain's hospitality sector faces financial ruin this winter
Mr Kerridge predicted little hope for improved circumstances in the near future, predicting 'a very, very difficult couple of years' in the interview during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster
'Businesses across the hospitality sector are experiencing unsustainable increases in energy costs,' chief executive Simon Emeny said.
'Despite having proactively purchased forward contracts to limit the impact on Fuller's, we will see significant increases this year and do urge the Government to provide much-needed clarity on its proposed support package so that we can plan accordingly.'
With some 48 per cent of adults finding it 'very or somewhat difficult' to afford their energy costs, according to the Office for National Statistics, the new UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced long-awaited plans to tackle soaring energy bills, which included freezing prices for two years and declaring she will boost domestic energy supplies.
But businesses are still facing a wait for details about additional support.
Many British pubs are reducing their hours and closing down as energy bills skyrocket by tens of thousands of pounds. Landlords are describing the situation as 'an even bigger crisis than Covid' and are reporting 400 per cent increases in the price of their bills, costs they are largely unable to cut as they require the fuel to serve customers.
Mr Kerridge, a judge on Great British Menu, said in an interview during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster: 'The whole of hospitality is facing a very, very difficult time at the minute.
'There's lots of talk that seven out of ten pubs are not going to survive unless the government does something quite rapidly and announce how they're going to help with the cost of the energy crisis.
'There's many small and wonderful pubs dotted up and down the country, in the centre of towns where the landlord lives upstairs.
'They may well eke out a bit of a living and may make £25-30,000 pounds a year, just about.
'But if you've got electricity bills that are doubling, trebling, three or four times it's so hard. Our first quote for our electricity bill at the pub that I'm sitting in right now, it has gone up nearly 700 per cent.'
Fuller's told shareholders it has seen 'good progress implementing a number of initiatives' to help reduce its energy bills and mitigate cost increases.
It came as the hospitality firm revealed it saw like-for-like sales increase by 21 per cent over the 25 weeks to September 17 compared with the same period last year.
And the World Cup is upcoming as is the first restriction-free Christmas for three years.
Nevertheless, the group said it recognised cost pressures facing its own customers.
Mr Emeny added: 'While sales continue to recover from the effects of the pandemic, we are conscious that consumers face increasingly challenging times ahead.'
Pub group Fuller's has said its gas and electricity bill will soar by £10 million without Government support, as struggling firms await details of a package set to be unveiled this week. Pictured: Chains securing the doors of a closed Fuller's pub in London
Mr Kerridge (pictured), who owns three pubs based in Marlow as well as five other restaurants and bars, told GB News that the Government needs to rapidly introduce a price cap for businesses to save the hospitality industry
Mr Kerridge predicted little hope for improved circumstances in the near future, predicting 'a very, very difficult couple of years'.
In the interview during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he said: 'Obviously, we haven't decided what to do, we're still looking around.
'But in those small pubs where the landlord makes a little bit of a living, if all of a sudden they've got an increase of 50, 60, £70,000 a year, then there's no way those pubs are going to be able to operate.
'We need to look at what that business price cap is and unfortunately the supply chain also has that problem.
'The butchers, the fishmongers, the farmers, the veg growers - it is inevitable with food inflation that costs go up.
'And at the same time, the guests and the consumer at home has less money because of that food inflation and price inflation, it kind of like pulls everything apart.
'It's going to be a very, very difficult couple of years.'
President of the British Chambers of Commerce, Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, warned at the beginning of September that two-thirds of pubs are at risk of closure amid the energy price rise crisis.
Mr Kerridge said earlier this month that he would shop around to try and get his bill lowered but said from his first quote the annual sum 'has gone from '£60,000 a year to £420,000 a year'.
'It's just absolutely ludicrous and that's just us as a business. This is every business - every business is getting quoted that because there is no price cap on business energy,' Mr Kerridge told BBC Radio 5 Live.
'The numbers are so ridiculous and ludicrous that no wonder so many businesses are closing and talking of closing.'
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