BBC News, Manchester<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n A bar owner has said he fears many small businesses are at risk of being “killed off” by a cocktail of rising costs.<\/p>\n Mark Wrigley, who runs Atlas Bar in Manchester city centre, said he was worried that measures announced by the government in the Autumn budget would “wipe out” already struggling firms.<\/p>\n Employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions and the National Minimum Wage increase in April.<\/p>\n A Treasury spokesperson said the government was determined to “kickstart economic growth”, for example by “permanently cutting business rates” and “capping corporation tax for the duration of [the current] parliament”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Wrigley estimates the Budget measures, combined with rising business rates and energy bills, will add at least \u00a355,000 to his costs this year unless he takes action.<\/p>\n “I spent a few weeks with my head in my hands,” he told the BBC.<\/p>\n Mr Wrigley, who has owned Atlas Bar since 2012, said he felt “disillusioned”, arguing that the government’s policies were “stifling growth”.<\/p>\n “We were going to take on extra staff and extend opening hours,” he said. “But we’re not doing it now.”<\/p>\n Instead, the bar owner said he had decided to cut staff hours and increase prices.<\/p>\n “I’m very concerned,” he said.<\/p>\n “But I’ve got to be hopeful (about the future) because I have 28 members of staff who rely on the business.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, Tony Cunningham, owner of Leckenby’s Tea Room in Bury, said he was facing “the most difficult time in 27 years”.<\/p>\n “Our business rates are more than doubling in April,” he explained. “Our electricity is going up by over 30% and then National Insurance and wages are both going up by 10%.<\/p>\n “We’re really getting clobbered on all sides.”<\/p>\n Mr Cunningham said businesses like his would have to increase their prices to survive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said firms were being “hammered” by tax rises and claimed many in the hospitality sector had already closed ahead of April’s changes.<\/p>\n “We know many have fallen by the wayside,” said Robert Downes, from the FSB in Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n “I suspect there may be more to come.”<\/p>\n Mr Downes called on the government to “cushion the blow”, arguing that rising business costs would be bad for the overall economy.<\/p>\n “If you’re punishing firms with super high tax bills, that is not going to trigger growth,” he warned.<\/p>\n The Treasury spokesperson said: “We delivered a once-in-a-Parliament budget to wipe the slate clean.<\/p>\n “Now we are focused on going further and faster to kickstart economic growth.<\/p>\n “We’re also levelling the playing field for high street businesses, by permanently cutting business rates and removing the \u00a3110,000 cap [for business rates relief] for over 280,000 retail, hospitality and leisure business properties, while also capping corporation tax for the duration of Parliament.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"BBC](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/51f8\/live\/400dd550-fffa-11ef-bf5e-e7d005fd4b0b.jpg.webp\")
BBC<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n‘Clobbered on all sides’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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