Stirling restaurant ‘Tutti Pizza’ has announced they will be reducing their opening hours, following a soar in UK energy prices.
The pizza restaurant will now be open only on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
This is in attempt to “remain profitable”, after their usual £1000 monthly energy bill rose to “a crippling £4000” in November.
Tutti Pizza opened shop on Dumbarton Road in February last year, specialising in authentic Neapolitan pizza for a student-friendly price.
Tutti Pizza regulars took to social media to express their sadness at the reduced opening hours, with one saying: “That is a shame you have to do this.”
Another wrote: “Jeez, there’s going to be nowhere left!”
This comes after fellow Stirling business ‘HBW Coffee’ announced they would be scrapping their mostly vegan business model and introducing meat products to their menu, in attempt to attract more customers and stay afloat amid the cost of living crisis.
The owner of HBW Coffee, Conor, said: “It’s tricky to see ahead to what is to become of Stirling’s small business scene in the next five or so years. The cost of living crisis has got us all fairly scared.”
The UK Government introduced their ‘Energy Bill Relief Scheme’ back in September which granted businesses a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices. The scheme runs until March 2023.
However, Stirling MP Alyn Smith is calling for a “much longer-term strategy” than the temporary Energy Bill Relief Scheme, as he worries that the soar in energy prices is “exacerbating business closures at record levels.”
Recent figures from the Centre for Retail Research show that over 17,000 stores and businesses closed across the UK in 2022 – up almost 50% from 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alyn Smith MP said: “The UK energy market is demonstrably broken, for households and businesses alike. State support schemes have been sluggish and should have gone further, and many otherwise viable businesses are facing financial ruin through no fault of their own.
“Years of underinvestment, a broken privatised energy market and poor strategic oversight of energy supply, source and storage by the UK Government has left Stirling, along with the rest of energy-rich Scotland, vulnerable to this global shock.
“I’ll be standing up for Stirling’s communities and businesses, and holding the UK Government’s feet to the fire.”
Featured Image Credit: Tutti Pizza
News Editor at Brig Newspaper
Fourth year Journalism Studies at the University of Stirling
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