Flashback to last year when Simon Midgeley, director of Starling, welcomed the late Yorkshire legend Harry Gration to his cafe bar in Harrogate.
Major staffing problems in Harrogate's hospitality sector combined with the cost of living, rising inflation and the cost of doing business were already impacting on the town’s traders, added Mr Midgely who laid bare the issues facing even a successful company like his own.Mr Midgley added: “Starling is on a fixed deal for our energy which ends early next year.
"In Harrogate, specifically, I think there is a supply and demand issue driven by the sheer number of hospitality venues in our town for the size of it’s population.” "Margins are difficult to maintain in this industry anyway and we are faced with the choice of passing on the majority of those cost increases by either increasing menu prices or reducing portion sizes which in most cases we didn’t want to do.