By Greg Barradale Big Issue Activism Reporter Portrait by Andy Parsons for Big Issue
THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS
January is always the toughest month for restaurants, with the Christmas splurge over and diners watching their wallets and waistlines. But a January in the middle of a cost of living crisis, stalked by Covid and Brexit? It’s existential.
The news has been littered with stories of post-Christmas closures. Celebrity chef Simon Rimmer was forced to close Greens, his restaurant in Didsbury, after a 35% rent increase. Phil Vickery’s restaurant, The Merryfellow, shut this month, citing bills, cost of living, and the lack of support from government. Local newspapers are dotted with closures of acclaimed restaurants: Knutsford Courthouse, the Smoke House in Cardiff, Greens in Gretna. Even Wetherspoons is selling off its pubs.
In 2023, at least 2,240 restaurants shut their doors. If the big places are struggling to survive, what about those we walk past every day? The Big Issue is a business that acutely feels the pressures on the high street. If footfall and ready cash is down, we’re a canary in the mine. It’s vital we support the lifeforce of Britain’s town centres.
Kebabs, curry, and fish and chips all have a claim to be our national dish. Yet their survival is at stake. We went under the grill at three high-street kitchens to take the temperature, and find out how Britain is set for the crisis. Amid the pressures, they know how they can be saved – if they can be given the tools.
THE TURKISH FINE DINING RESTAURANT
“I was brought up pretty much all my life in hospitality. Naturally you learn, you help your parents over the weekend,” says Maz Demir.
Demir is executive chef at Skewd, a Turkish fine-dining restaurant in Cockfosters, end of the Piccadilly Line. Growing out of decades of family businesses, including a kebab shop in London, the restaurant is now pushing boundaries and winning awards. As staff set about preparing dishes ahead of a 5pm opening, Demir sits in a bank vault at the back of the venue, converted into a private dining room.
“It’s like being slapped around constantly. You don’t get one slap, you’re slapped left, right, right left, it baffles you. You get dazed,” he says. “You wake up in the morning, you think what is the future? What does the future hold?”
Take rising costs: a tub of butter went from £38 to £157, and ov
