Summer holidaymakers in the UK should expect closed pubs and restaurants, with Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland among the worst hit regions
Imagine. At last, you’re on your long-awaited summer holiday in the Peak District. After a gruelling 17-mile tramp across Bleaklow, you arrive at your destination in a quaint village. But it’s Tuesday evening and everything is closed. No pint. No pie.
Or perhaps you’ve driven all day from Kent to Scotland with the family, and finally made it to your dreamed-of island. But, woe is you, and woe are the children, because the only pub in town that serves kid-friendly food is closed.
This is not dystopian doom-mongering. It’s happening already, and the main summer season hasn’t begun. Trade body UKHospitality says its members are experiencing a job vacancy rate of 11 per cent. According to the ONS, there are 132,000 unfilled roles in the sector – 48 per cent above pre-pandemic levels.
Across the UK, restaurants and pubs are struggling to offer their usual service, especially where demand is patchy – but even towns are seeing once thriving businesses being wound up.