RESTAURANTS and bars are three times more likely to go bust than other York businesses.

This shocking statistic has been revealed in research by UHY Calvert Smith, the York accountancy firm.

As many as 15.5 per cent of businesses in the hospitality and catering sector - restaurants, pubs and hotels - fail every year in the city, compared to 5.2 per cent for the economy as a whole.

And often it is the fault of the taxman, an expert claimed today.

UHY Calvert Smith's study looked at more than 150,000 business failures. Its sample over the past year included smaller unincorporated businesses, usually excluded from statistics on business failures.

Keith Ward, partner at the accountancy firm, said: "The restaurant business is a very competitive sector. It takes time to build a loyal client base."

He warned sound financial planning and thorough market research were essential for those trying to build up a strong restaurant business.

"Difficulty in raising second round financing and the challenge of building a loyal client base are often to blame for the high business failure rate in the hospitality and catering sector.

"Increasingly it is the taxman who sends these businesses to the wall.

"Before Revenue & Customs lost its preferred creditor status it was more relaxed about late payment, but now it is far more likely to pull the plug," he claimed.

Mr Ward said businesses across York's hospitality and catering sector, including bars and hotels, had seen their costs rise significantly as a result of inflation-busting increases in the minimum wage.

And long-term increases in alcohol duty on beer and wines have hit pubs and hotels hard.

He also urged the hospitality and catering industry in York to plan for the smoking ban, which takes effect in July.

Courier and haulage companies rank number one for businesses most likely to fold, according to the study, which finds that 17.3 per cent of them go under every year, squeezed on costs by the rising price of fuel.

Also on the "danger" list were personal services companies such as beauticians, eight per cent of whom are likely to fold this year.

Mr Ward blamed low entry barriers that keep competition at a high level, coupled with above inflation rises in the minimum wage.

If York follows the national trend, then seven per cent of the city's shops will fail this year.

Mr Ward said: "York's small high street retailers are being squeezed at the moment by interest rate rises, rent increases, competition from large supermarket chains, and the growth of online retailing."

Amie Postings, chairman of the York Hoteliers Association, and general manager of the Grange Hotel in Bootham, agreed with the report.

Hotels, she said, had been hit hard by the increase in minimum wage, and were preparing for the next proposed increase in October.

She said: "York is less seasonal and more all-year-round than most cities, and it has a phenomenal amount of fine restaurants.

"The recent arrival of big brand names that visitors to the city recognise, like Loch Fyne and Strada, means that independent restaurant owners have suffered.

"It is very difficult for independent restaurants to succeed in York.

"The competition is too high.

"That's great for the visitors, but not the operators."