A CAMPAIGN to give the hospitality industry a voice started by pub landlords in the Forest has grown to more than 500 members nationwide in less than a month.

HOOP – Hands Off Our Pubs – was formed against a backdrop of rising costs which threaten businesses and jobs.

The group hosted a ‘Hospitality Summit’ at the Speech House Hotel on Wednesday (February 18) aimed at shaping the next phase of the campaign for fairer treatment of pubs and hospitality businesses.

HOOP co-founder Mark Terry-Lush said the costs crisis had forced the closure of Forest businesses in the previous week

He said: “Something is structurally wrong.

“In the last week alone, I know of three businesses that closed their doors.

“I know of several more that are on the brink.

“They’re not chaotic – they’re viable, they're busy.

“They're loved by their owners. They're needed by their staff and their community.

It's simply cost layering – costs, that could be individually manageable but collectively,they're suffocating cash flow and they're suffocating growth.”

He said that driving from Gloucester to Lydney and onto Mitcheldean, he had seen the effect of closures.

“I saw the scars, where local shops, post offices, GP surgeries, pubs and cafes used to be, boarded up windows, faded signs, flats and housing, where pubs used to have their doors open.”

He said that just around the area where he lives, at Blaisdon, many pubs had closed.

“I've seen last orders at The Greyhound at Elton, The Lion at Westbury, the Victoria Hotel at Newnham, that George in Mitcheldean, the Yew Tree in Blakeney, several Kings Heads.

“One that really guts me is The Apple Tree on the A48 at Minsterworth.

“It's literally the gateway to the forest, from Gloucester.

“Half boarded up, overgrown, rubbish in the car park – that is not a great first impression for visitors to the Forest of Dean.

He said HOOP “is not about doom”.

“It began as one conversation in early January and then it became a WhatsApp group.

“Frustrated owners all recognised, the same pattern at venues across the Forest.

“And then it was a country and then the country.

“Within a month we were evidence gathering.

“ Within the month, we were over 500 businesses nationwide.

“We quickly realised that this is not a pub problem.

“It's a hospitality problem and that means, it's a community problem, it's a social problem.

“When viable businesses come out under the cumulative financial pressure, that's not resilience. It's erosion: it's slow, it's quiet, its structural until it isn't.

“It's the cafe owner, who’s full on Saturday but still can't pay their bills.

“It’s the publican who employs 12 people and lies awake doing the maths at 3am.

“It's the hotelier, who's done everything right but still watches the margins vanish and borrows to pay the VAT.”

Mr Terry Lush, who is also chair of Visit DeanWye, said putting pressure on politicians was key to success.

“We need to talk about pint washing.

“It's a politician standing behind a bar, holding a pint, talking about saving the local while quietly maintaining the tax rates and the cost structures that make survival harder.

“If you really value something, it means designing a policy that allows people to live.

“It's not minimum wage that’s the issue.

It's the impact of national insurance, pension contributions are having on top of it and without any relief.

“Then there's the supermarkets that sell alcohol as a loss leader without the cost headings or the social responsibility.

“If you tell a sector it is thriving while it is drowning that is not support. It's pint washing, it’s gaslighting.”

He said HOOP had sent Forest MP Matt Bishop four specific questions about VAT, business rates, employment costs, and supermarket imbalance.

“The response ran to nearly two pages.

“But it's a political response, mostly defending the existing policy unpicking other parties’ five point plans, rather than addressing the real issues.

“No government is going to rescue hospitality unless you make it politically urgent.

“We’ve organised pressure, we've laid out the challenges. We've engaged in decision makers. We've suggested solutions.”

He said a national day of action was being considered.

“We're not going to give up.

“We're not going to roll over in our fight for fairness because, united and standing together, we can change the broken system.

“We can protect the pride that we have in our businesses, in our towns and villages and the communities that depend on them.”

Naomi Hands, whose family have run the Speech House since 2010, said they were not asking for special treatment.

“We're just asking for fairness, and joined-up thinking.

“VAT that supports domestic tourism instead of discouraging it.

“Business rates that reflect real trading conditions, alignment between policy and taxation and proportionate protection for small employers, when new employment legislation is introduced.

“Above all, recognition that hospitality is not an afterthought.”

She said the costs associated with employing staff were a massive headache for them.

“We absolutely support minimum wage increases People absolutely deserve to earn well.

“Our team of 78 are not just employees for us.

“They become part of our extended family. But the reality is something that we can't ignore.

“When payroll alone counts for more than half of our turnover, before we pay for any of our bills, like food utilities or insurance or rates, the margin for error becomes incredibly small.

“Last year, our payroll increase required over £100,000.

“The majority of that was basically our national insurance and pension costs.

“But where do you find that money when we're in a cost of living crisis and customers aren't going out and spending money eating in our establishments or staying with us?

“Costs cannot keep increasing without bringing pressure somewhere else.”

Tony Sophoclides, Strategic Affairs Director at trade body UKHospitality said the industry could help to address the problems faced by the country.

He said: “Unlike many sectors or industries, we are ubiquitous

“We are in every single community, every single constituency, every single MP should have an interest in what we do.

“We employ everybody’s young people, you’ve got opportunities for everybody’s first jobs, in a way that no one else does.

“We have a higher proportion of managerial candidates without degree status

“We have a great record on gender pay and ethnic minority employment.

“The problem is costs.”

He said changes to National Insurance and business rates after Covid had added £7 billion to the sector’s costs.

He said there were currently 26 government consultations relating to the industry and he asked business owners, staff and customers to respond.

Julie Kent, the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire emphasised the need for collective action.

She highlighted the work of Ellen, the Cheltenham women who spearheaded a worldwide campaign for parents to be allowed to see the data on their children’s social media after the death of her son.

She said: “Would she be here now, 4 years on, if it was just her, shouting?

“I don't think she would but the fact that she has brought, all these other people with her, reminds me of you guys.”

For more about the campaign visit www.handsoffourpubs.co.uk

The UK Hospitality website is at www,ukhospitality.org.uk