‘Lost generation’: small businesses folding across UK as energy bills land

Jobs disappear and high streets decimated as growing number of traders are forced to shut due to higher costs

The energy crisis is tearing through Britain's high streets, with warnings on Friday of a lost generation" of small businesses, as the impact of soaring gas and electricity prices begins to hit cafes, restaurants, shops and salons.

Across the UK, growing numbers of traders are closing their doors for good in the face of unaffordable costs driven by record inflation, with some reporting tenfold increases in utility bills.