Trongate cafe to see its bills rise to over £30k over winter amidst energy price hikes

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The Glasgow city centre cafe will see its bills rise by £29000 per year - as a local Liberal Democrat councillor has called for support for the thousands of businesses seeing their prices rise across Glasgow.

A Trongate cafe is seeing its bills rise from £7000 to £36000 per year amidst energy price hikes across the UK.

Trader Ben Rose, who owns Rose and Grants Deli Cafe in Glasgow’s Trongate and lives in Bishopbriggs, told how his bill has skyrocketed in price.

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A prospective Lib Dem candidate for East Dunbartonshire at the next general elections, Susan Murray, has called for immediate action from the Prime Minister to rescue small businesses.

Murray warns that hundreds of small businesses across East Dunbartonshire are facing an ‘armageddon’ in the face of soaring energy this winter.

he also claims that local firms in East Dunbartonshire could see their energy bills to skyrocket by 400 per cent in the coming months, which could mean that thousands of workers will lose their jobs.

Susan Murray

The prospective councillor has stated that unless new Prime Minister, Liz Truss, doesn’t drop a support package soon, that the likes of Milngavie, Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, and Kirkintilloch could become ‘ghost towns’.

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Councillor Murray, who will stand as the Lib Dem prospective candidate for East Dunbartonshire at the next general election, fears unless there is government intervention that many small businesses could be forced to close their doors.

Susan Murray said:"This may lead to an Armageddon for the hospitality trade and other small businesses.

"Now East Dunbartonshire’s high streets risk being devastated by spiralling energy costs and turned into ghost towns, but the Conservatives don’t seem to get it or care.

“The Liberal Democrats have proposed a rescue package that would offer grants up to £50,000 to help small businesses who are not covered by the Ofgem energy price cap.”

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The plans could benefit 1522 small and medium-sized businesses in East Dunbartonshire, including many family-owned shops and hairdressers - and around 90 cafes, restaurants, pubs and nightclubs.

Susan Murray, currently a councillor for Kirkintilloch East and North and Twechar, added: "We need this energy bailout now to save our high streets, rescue small businesses and keep prices down for local families. The Scottish Government would get its share of UK funding, just as it did during the pandemic.

"We’ve known this hike was coming for months and the Government has done nothing."

Under the Liberal Democrats scheme, small businesses would be able to apply for Government grants covering 80 per cent of the increase in their energy bills for one year, up to a maximum of £50,000.

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The plans could help 1.4 million small businesses across the UK.

The Lib Dems are calling on Ms Truss to introduce laws to support families and businesses with spiralling energy costs as soon as Parliament returns next week.

Liberal Democrats chiefs say the scheme would cost an estimated £10 billion and could be met by reversing Conservatives’ tax cuts for big banks.

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