Fish and chip shop owner warns of price rises and possible job cuts after Budget blow

Fish and chip shop owner Spencer Gray warned he would have to raise prices by around 50p a portion and could cut jobs because of a wage bill jump.

Mr Gray owns No 1 Cromer, a thriving restaurant and takeaway in the Norfolk seaside town that employs around 70 people. He warned the increase in the National Living Wage, and higher employers’ national insurance, would add around £125,000 to his £1.5million annual wage bill.

“It’s huge for us, especially as we have always put the profits back into the business,” he said. “We have always been about growing the business, so it’s very disappointing.”

He said the higher costs would not only come from its own wage bills but those of suppliers. “We will have to pass it on to customers through increases prices,” Mr Gray said. “If turnover goes down because of those price rises then we will have to look at redundancies.”

He said the increase in the employment allowance to just over £10,000 a year, announced in the , would not help him because full-time workers were already on more than that.

Mr Gray, who also owns a car dealership, said the added outlay follows years of higher costs for everything from cooking oil and fish due in part by Russia's invasion of and an energy crisis.

Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Increasing the employment allowance for small businesses by a record amount is a very welcome move and we’re pleased the Chancellor has heard us loud and clear. More than doubling it, from £5,000 to £10,500, will shield the smallest employers from the jobs tax, therefore is a pro-jobs prioritisation in a tough Budget.

“The decision to protect small businesses from an inflationary hike in business rates – by freezing the small business multiplier – will help small firms with premises across all sectors. Meanwhile, extending business rates relief, albeit at a lower level, for small firms in retail, hospitality and leisure will mitigate a potential cliff-edge tax hike for those in some of the toughest sectors."