Swansea café owner needs to spend £15,000 a month 'before buying a sausage' to keep business afloat

Sharon Barry told Rob Osborne that her business is constantly busy but she may have to close it because of high costs.

A café owner in Swansea has said she is having to spend £15,000 a month on utilities and staff wages before she can even buy food for her business.

Sharon Barry opened Coffee and Crumbs in Brynhyfryd in 2019 and said anymore hikes in costs will force her to close.

She told ITV Wales' political programme Sharp End that she hopes the Chancellor's budget on Wednesday will provide her with some breathing space to keep her business afloat, especially when it comes to the price of supplies.

"The cost of eggs, sausage, bacon - we just had a message yesterday from our sausage and bacon supplier that it's going up in September.

"Oil has gone up from £20 to £40, we change our oil twice a week, so it's just ridiculous inflation, absolutely ridiculous."

Sharon says the cost of supplies is adding more pressure to her business, which is making a loss.

Sharon says running a new business during the pandemic was tough enough, but now it's even harder with the current cost of living crisis.

"We need to find - with the staff's wages and gas and electric - £15,000 a month before we buy a sausage.

"We had our first electric bill which went from £300-£400 to £2,500. The gas bill was £170-180. The last bill was £1,000.

"It's hard because we've got ten staff, we're very busy we could be busy all day, it's got to stay busy the way we are just to pay the gas, we're not making a profit.

"In fact we're making a loss and it's getting to the stage that come April if it goes up, and we've not got a lot of money to put into the business, then we'll have to close. "

Exactly what is in Jeremy Hunt's budget to help those struggling with the cost of living isn't yet known. However the indications from the Treasury is that cutting inflation is the priority, rather than cutting taxes.

Even though the full details are still a day away, the Chancellor has announced that the UK Government will end the “prepayment premium” from July, saving more than four million households £45 a year on their energy bills.

Households on the pay-as-you-go meters, who are typically low income, currently pay more on average than direct debit customers because of firms managing the meters passing on costs to users.

The end of the prepayment premium won't end until July and the Treasury estimates the change will cost the taxpayer £200 million.

Reports from the Treasury suggest that the government's priority is to cut inflation instead of cutting taxes. Credit: PA

Meanwhile, the Chancellor is expected to cancel a planned £500 hike in average energy bills which was due to come into force next month.

For the average household that means bills could stay at around £2,500, instead of going up to £3,000 as was previously announced.

As well as that, the Chancellor is understood to be looking at increasing the tax-free allowance for pensions as part of his Budget package.

Jeremy Hunt is reportedly considering boosting the lifetime pension allowance (LTA), allowing workers to put more money into their pension pot before being taxed, in a move that is thought to be an attempt to reverse the trend of early retirements.

You can catch up on Sharp End on the ITV Wales programmes website here.

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