Cost of living crisis: Chief executive of Greene King sends urgent warning of closures and job losses amidst soaring energy bills

Green King is one of the biggest chains in the country and runs a number of pubs across Sussex – and chief executive Nick Mackenzie believes there is a massive threat to jobs and ‘beloved locals’ being forced to close.

He said: “The huge rise in energy bills is hitting the UK’s pubs hard – just as the sector was starting to recover from the pandemic.

“Up and down the country our tenants and free trade customers are receiving untenably high bills, with one reporting a rise of £33,000 a year for energy.

“While the Government has introduced measures to help households cope with this spike in prices, businesses are having to face this alone, and it is only going to get worse come the autumn.

“Without immediate government intervention to support the sector, we could face the prospect of pubs being unable to pay their bills, jobs being lost and beloved locals across the country forced to close their doors, meaning all the good work done to keep pubs open during the pandemic could be wasted.”

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Greene Kings owns and manages pubs all across West Sussex including: Gatwick Manor (Crawley), Shipley Bridge (Shipley Bridge), Heathy Farm (Crawley), Snooty Fox (Crawley), Old Punch Bowl (Crawley), Sussex Barn (Horsham), Anchor Hotel (Horsham), Burrell Arms, (Haywards Heath), Star (Haywards Heath), Railway (Burgess Hill), Broadwater (Worthing), Thieves Kitchen (Worthing), Lamb Inn (Rustington), Martlets (Bognor Regis), Trents (Chichester), Old Cross (Chichester).