Help Our Hospitality: ‘It’s the perfect storm,’ says owner of recently shut down award-winning restaurant

Today (March 3), this newspaper launches a new campaign to raise the profile of hospitality venues across Northampton.

Leading on from the ‘Back Our Businesses’ campaign, which ran for three months at the end of 2022, ‘Help Our Hospitality’ seeks to support the town’s food and drink venues on their journey through “the perfect storm”.

Though these venues are facing unprecedented times with the impact of the cost of living crisis, recovery from the pandemic, Brexit, and the invasion on Ukraine, Northampton town centre has seen a “significant shift” from shops to eating and drinking.

In December 2022, the BBC revealed central Northampton had seen a net loss of 26 shops but a net growth of 23 eating and drinking venues.

The Ordnance Survey statistics compared the first quarters of 2020 and 2022 in the NN1 postcode area.

According to the BBC, Northampton town centre was believed to have experienced one of the most significant shifts from retail to restaurants in any UK postcode area.

Though this campaign will not only focus on town centre hospitality venues, but across the entire town, this shift will be explored over the coming weeks and months.

Help Our Hospitality will delve deep into what the town has to offer and what everyone can continue doing to offer their support – but we cannot ignore the reason we have started this campaign in the first place.

As a newspaper, we have covered the closure of many businesses and venues recently, from St Giles Ale House which faced a 400 percent increase in energy costs to Chilli Village and Green Loft unable to overcome the “economic distress”.

One recent closure that took everyone by surprise was Electric Pavilion, an award-winning bar and restaurant in the heart of the town centre.

After being open for less than a year, brothers Paul Kuznecovs and Arturs Dzerins called it quits and closed the doors at the Gold Street venue the final time last Sunday (February 26).

The establishment prided itself on offering good quality food and drink, live music, and investing in young people – and were named both ‘dining venue of the year’ and ‘best cocktail bar in the UK’ just last year.

For this launch story, we spoke to Electric Pavilion’s owner Paul who, following their sad closure, wanted to shed light on the current reality the hospitality industry faces – which is why this campaign is needed.

Paul said: “I’m emotional about the closure, and the challenges and difficulties we faced.

“Businesses are facing the perfect storm. When we envisioned this project, we did not imagine taking on the impacts of the cost of living crisis, the pandemic, the invasion on Ukraine and Brexit.

“We were so full of hope and a vision in the beginning, but it did not make sense to continue.

“The cost of living crisis is what has broken the camel’s back.”

When the idea for Electric Pavilion was born in March 2021, the bills were around £1,000 per month and that is what they projected they would continue as.

However, their electricity bill soared to £2,500 and gas hiked to £2,000 – and that is without thinking about rent for the premises, staff wages, and food and alcohol costs.

Paul estimated every cost they had to fork out for had increased between 20 and 50 percent.

The decision to close at the end of February was made ahead of the new year, as the cost of living crisis was the final straw.

“The objective was to survive until the end of 2023, but it didn’t make sense to carry on,” said Paul. “Sometimes you have to take a step back to think and listen to what others have to say.

“It’s important to let other people in, to carry on something you believe in.”

Paul agreed that Electric Pavilion being a multi-award-winning business, yet still having no option but to close down, proves anyone could land themselves in danger.

He said: “No matter how extraordinary your vision is or how many accolades you have, it is still possible to go down.”

The venue may have closed, but Paul says they “always tried to think outside the box, remain positive, and see if there is a plan B”.

“Electric Pavilion may have shut its doors, but it has not died,” said Paul. “We are thinking about how we can survive and something new is coming.”

When asked what more can be done for hospitality venues to prevent them from heading down the same path as Electric Pavilion, the business owner says “it is as simple as spending money and leaving positive Google reviews”.

Though Paul appreciates the difficulties people face in affording necessities, let alone visiting a restaurant or bar, he says it is “the key to success” for small and independent businesses like his.

After receiving a number of one star reviews based on “unfair factors outside of his control”, Paul wants everyone to know how “demotivating” negative reviews can be for businesses fighting to survive.

“When the time comes for businesses to shut down, people complain,” said Paul. “But they are likely to be the ones who did not visit, support or may have left negative reviews.”

In his final words, Paul wanted to share his appreciation for the support of every client and those who left positive reviews.

He hopes things will improve for the hospitality venues who remain in Northampton.

Now we have seen just how difficult of a time the hospitality industry is experiencing, the coming weeks and months will see this newspaper raise the profile of food and drink businesses across Northampton.

If you would like to see your hospitality venue included as part of this campaign, email [email protected].