‘We’re running on empty’: little hope in Leicester for help from budget

From a pub owner to the mayor, the city is under pressure from cuts, the Covid crisis and inflation

With business rates due to increase, VAT going up, energy prices on the rise and inflation pushing up food and drink costs, pub owner Sam Hagger is dreading the next few months.

It is going to be catastrophic. There's no other way to describe it," says Hagger, the founder of the Beautiful Pubs Collective, which runs three venues in Leicester. There's a headwind on the horizon that we can't deal with."