Coach & Horses left ‘very concerned’ after costs surge

The Coach and Horses, located in Rillington between Malton and Scarborough, reopened under new management on June 25 and has enjoyed a steady trade over the summer.

Now, however, rising energy costs are impacting the day-to-day operations of the pub.

Steve Kent, who co-owns the Coach and Horses with Pam Kent, explained that the electric bill has almost doubled, costing an extra £100 per week.

On top of this will be an extra £100 per week when the pub has to put their heating on during the winter.  

“We’ve got to trade enough for those costs,” he said.

“In winter we may have to cut back on opening times to stay open."

Steve said that putting prices up is unavoidable.

General manager of the pub, Malcolm Boanas, said customers have been understanding.

“If we have to make any changes, people have just accepted it, and haven’t complained,” he said.

At the Coach and Horses, measures have been introduced to keep costs down.

Malcolm, who also cooks in the kitchen, said he is limiting the number of appliances on in the kitchen – particularly for the lunch service.

He explained that at lunch time items such as gravy are prepped the day before then heated up in a microwave as this is cheaper to run than a cooker.

“We have to keep the costs as low as we can. It is not going to be easy,” said owner Steve Kent (Image: Coach & Horses)

On top of this, the pub has kept costs of stock down by shopping locally – they’ve even started growing their own fruit and vegetables.

Malcolm said they grows some of the ingredients themselves in the garden, such as courgettes.  

Customers have got involved too, with some bringing in home grown apples to be used in crumble dishes.

“We seem to have kept control of everything at the moment - where that is going to lead us, I don’t know,” said Malcolm.

Looking to the future, he said: “Not to be worried and not to be aware that it is going to be difficult is stupid.”

Owner Steve added that he is ‘very concerned’ for the future.

Despite a busy summer, Steve said footfall has started to slow down.

He fears that as time goes on this problem will only get worse.

“There’s a lot of pressure on people and they’re going to have less disposable income,” he said.

“(The government) are going to have to support people and businesses. How they decide to do that is up to them.”

Existing problems such as staffing also remain on top of these rising costs.

“A lot of people left the industry with Covid and they're not going to come back,” said Steve.

“Because costs are going up we can’t just up wages.

“We have to keep the costs as low as we can. It is not going to be easy.”