Liverpool restaurant boss: Interest rate decision 'a really important moment'
Experts think it will be cut to 4%
As another decision on interest rates looms, a Liverpool hospitality boss is calling it 'a really important moment' for his industry.
Experts reckon it will be cut to 4% today - it would be the fifth reduction since August last year, when rates started steadily coming down from a peak of 5.25%.
Economists think it's down to a slowdown in the UK jobs market and stagnant economic growth.
Paul Askew, Chef Patron and owner of The Art School in Liverpool, said:
"The next interest rate meeting on Thursday 7th August is keenly watched by everyone in hospitality with all eyes now on Threadneedle Street.
"Whilst many of us voted for change to bring this new government in, we have been left with the burden of NI and living wage increases which turned the screw again on the UK’s hospitality industry.
"Hospitality is bearing the brunt"
"Whilst we want everyone to have a fair living wage across all sectors in the country, it feels as though hospitality is bearing the brunt of this, having to find even more money which many operators simply do not have on top high utility bills, VAT and inflationary pressures on customers. A reduction of the interest rate we hope would at least help to create some consumer confidence and increase spending on the high street.
"Unless swift action is taken, the sector is gearing to fail with hundreds more closures. We already see restaurants, pubs, cafes, bars and more facing the most difficult trading landscape imaginable, with the perfect set of circumstances for failure now heightened as true scale of these costs is reckoned with. Figures just out from UK Hospitality show on average 2 licensed venues closed permanently each day in the first half of 2025. This grim statistic cannot continue.
"I still contend that the single most progressive act this government can make is to recalibrate the VAT charge on fresh prepared food to be in line with Europe for fresh led businesses so we can grow, invest and thrive using artisan skills and develop our people and business normally. But for now, we must hope interest rates can be lowered."