York high street shops tell Prime Minister Liz Truss: 'We need help NOW'

Andrew Lowson, executive director of the York Business Improvement District, said traders were sitting in a 'corridor of uncertainty'.

"At the moment there are no answers," he said. "Everybody is waiting to see, now that there is a new PM, what the government will introduce. If that doesn't give businesses a sense that they can make it through, then some may think 'I cannot do this'.

"Once it is clear to businesses what support they will get, they will then be able to make decisions on whether they have to temporarily / permanently close, or whether the support gives them the confidence to continue trading. I can only hope it is the latter."

Andrew Lowson (Image: Unknown)

New Prime Minister Liz Truss is understood to want to cap household energy bills at £2,500, with full details expected to be announced today (Thursday).

But that still leaves business facing soaring energy bills, with no announced cap in sight.

Mr Lowson stressed that York, with its busy hospitality, leisure and tourism sector and wealth of small independent shops, cafés, pubs and restaurants, would be hit harder than many other cities.

It was already too late for some businesses, he said. "Some prominent businesses such as the Gillygate pub have already closed. (And) one café in the city centre told me that their energy costs could be £200,000 for a year."

Then there was the fact that ordinary people were also struggling - so had less disposable income to spend in shops and bars. "It is unprecedented times and that is saying something after Covid," Mr Lowson said.

David Skaith, owner of Winston's of York independent men's clothing store on Back Swinegate, and chair of the York High Street Forum, said businesses needed support now, not in a week or a month.

David Skaith (Image: supplied)

Restaurants and cafés, with their kitchens and fridges and consequent high energy use, would be hardest hit, Mr Skaith said.

But even independent shops such as his were facing a huge rise in costs. "It’s not just the energy bills," he said. "In my shop, the phone bills are up, insurance is up, everything you can think of to do with business is going up.

"We've had two years of Covid, so many businesses are carrying huge amounts of debt. We felt we were just starting off again, and we're hit with this new burden on top."

Mr Skaith said businesses were hoping for a cap on energy bills - and hopefully a freeze on business rates for a few months.

But if they didn't get the support they were looking for, he said, it would be 'scary'.

Staff would be the first thing to go as businesses struggled to reduce costs.

"But small business owners are tired. They've made it through two years (of Covid), but if we get another difficult winter - they might think it's not worth it any more."

Insolvency experts warned yesterday that the UK could witness the collapse of an “unprecedented number of otherwise healthy businesses” over the coming months due to rocketing energy bills.

Red Flag Alert, which monitors the financial health of larger firms, has said more than 75,000 companies, with revenues of £1 million or more, are at risk of insolvency due to energy price hikes.

It added that 26,720 are at risk of failing completely as they struggle to swallow higher costs.