UKHospitality – lower level of energy support will cost sector businesses a further £4.5bn: UKHospitality has said the lower level of energy support from April, announced by the government last night, will cost sector businesses a further £4.5bn. Under the new scheme, which will run until March 2024, firms will get a discount on wholesale prices rather than their costs being capped as under the current one. Heavy energy-using sectors such as manufacturers will get a larger discount than others, but firms paying under a certain price for their energy wholesale will not get support. UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “While I’m relieved the chancellor has listened to UKHospitality’s concerns and extended the scheme as a whole, the absence of a sector-specific package that helps vulnerable sectors like hospitality will still result in higher bills. Our analysis shows the new, lower level of support will see a total £4.5bn hike in bills for the sector compared to the previous scheme. This will simply be unsustainable for many. With no further, dedicated support for a vulnerable sector like hospitality, I’d urge the government to consider other measures it can take to help the sector.” She added: “Now we have some clarity on the future of energy support, we must see a concerted change in behaviour by energy suppliers, who have been unfairly treating businesses with outlandish quotes and unjustifiable demands for enormous deposits or pre-payments. Government must act swiftly if this is not forthcoming. This scheme is a significant investment from the government and energy suppliers should not be using that as an excuse to hike up prices. The Ofgem review into the non-domestic market should serve as a wake-up call to suppliers that now is the time to be reasonable with the quotes they’re offering and to abandon unfair demands of businesses to secure fixed deals. They should also consider allowing businesses to renegotiate if they are stuck on previously agreed, inflated fixed deals.” Michael Kill executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: “The announcement once again outlines how out of touch the government are with businesses. Even under the current relief scheme, greedy, profiteering energy companies are subjecting businesses to over 400% increase on previous energy bills. All of this in light of the fact that gas/oil wholesale prices in recent months have dropped below the levels prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The scaling back of the energy relief scheme by government at the end of April, will without doubt mean thousands of businesses and jobs will be lost in the coming months.” Clive Watson, chairman of the City Pub Group, added: “At times, we have to close pubs at certain parts of the day because it’s just not worth it, given the increases in energy costs we’re having to pay. It’s great that energy prices are slowing down, but that’s just not coming through in the bills just yet. My long-term planning is on hold because of the short-term risks.”

‘World’s best restaurant’ to close: Noma in Copenhagen, consistently ranked as the world’s best restaurant, is to close. The three Michelin-starred venue, which first opened in the Danish capital in 2003, reopening in 2018 after shutting in 2016, has topped the World’s Best Restaurants list a record-breaking five times – most recently in 2021. But it has announced it will close as a restaurant at the end of 2024 and reinvent itself as a food laboratory. Chef Rene Redzepi admitted it can no longer afford to pay its 100 staff fairly – the move coming just three months after the restaurant began to pay its interns for the first time. “Financially and emotionally, as an employer and as a human being, it just doesn’t work,” said Redzepi. “We have to completely rethink the industry. This is simply too hard, and we have to work in a different way.” It is not the first time the restaurant has had to reinvent itself. Forced to close repeatedly for more than six months during the pandemic, it transformed into a burger and wine bar for a month in the summer of 2020. An Instagram, post from the restaurant said: “To continue being Noma, we must change...Winter 2024 will be the last season of Noma as we know it. We are beginning a new chapter. In 2025, our restaurant is transforming into a giant lab, a pioneering test kitchen dedicated to the work of food innovation and the development of new flavours, one that will share the fruits of our efforts more widely than ever before. Serving guests will still be a part of who we are but being a restaurant will no longer define us. Much of our time will be spent on exploring new projects and developing many more ideas and products.” While Noma will be stopping its regular service, the dining rooms will be opened for occasional pop-ups. The restaurant announced last year that it would open for a stint in Kyoto for two months this year, from 15 March to 20 May.