A popular Northern Ireland restaurant has shared its eye-watering rates bill as it paints a grim picture of the future of hospitality.
Inflation and the cost of living crisis are making life harder and harder for independent businesses, and eye-watering rates bills don’t help.
As more and more of our local businesses close their doors nationwide, a County Armagh restaurant has shared its exorbitant rates bill as a grim picture of the future of the hospitality industry.
Number Seven – a popular Craigavon restaurant
Number Seven serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Craigavon’s Rushmere Shopping Centre, where it holds its own against outposts of multinational corporations such as Nando’s, Subway, Costa, Starbucks, and McDonald’s.
This no-frills restaurant-café can accommodate 120 diners and opens from 9 am to 9 pm from Monday through Friday, with reduced hours on the weekend.
It has earned a local reputation for its food, with a menu offering everything from a full Irish breakfast to hearty roasts, burgers, pastas, sandwiches, and everything in between.
However, this popular County Armagh eatery painted a grim picture of its future – and that of the local hospitality industry at large – by sharing its exorbitant rates bill on social media.
Number Seven’s rates bill – through the roof
Number Seven’s manager shared a photo of its upcoming rates bill, which will see the restaurant pay upwards of £7,100 a month between May of this year and February of next.
It all adds up to a staggering total amount of £71,041.14.
The photo was accompanied by a post that read, “We felt we had to share this so our customers can understand why, at times, we have to raise and charge the prices we do. This is this year’s RATES bill for our 120-capacity café in Rushmere Shopping Centre.
“Bear in mind we pay for our rent, bins, water and other services separately, what does £71k per year cover?”.
Many of Number Seven’s loyal customers were quick to express their support for the restaurant and dismay at the increase in rates. One Facebook user – Thomas Hughes – broke down the maths to highlight the everyday imposition of the bill:
“If you relate this cost back to the opening hours of the Rushmere Centre, which is 74 hours per week, it means that for every hour this cafe opens, it costs £18.46 per hour just to cover the rates!
“Bear in mind that, in order to pay this £18.46 per hour, that has to come after the cost of raw materials the café requires to make their products, the wage bills, rent and all utility bills!
“This is completely impossible to sustain and is a disgrace to the hard-working people who are in similar positions all across the country trying to better themselves and make a comfortable living!”.
The future for the hospitality industry – restaurants and bars going out of business
In his supportive comment, Mr Hughes makes the very valid point that such rates are simply unsustainable.
When you combine these rates with ongoing inflation and the cost of living crisis, there is little surprise that many restaurants and bars are going out of business.
This not only adversely affects the local economy, but before long, the only businesses that will be able to afford to exist will be the aforementioned multinational corporations, risking the homogenisation of our towns and cities.
