First pub in Britain to close due to the cost of living crisis

He said: “The cost of everything is rising and we can’t keep passing that on to the customers because people are already suffering.

“In a cost of living crisis the first thing to go is going to the pub and going out to eat.

“It’s not just simple numbers, it’s a lot of factors.

“We have been trying to sustain the costs since January. We luckily made it out of lockdown thanks to our customers and help from the government. 

“But the cost of supplies and fuel has gone up so suddenly. 

“It’s just all these small things adding up and adding up and suddenly the business is just not financially viable anymore.

“The worst part for us is our kids go to school here, we have brought our family up living upstairs from this pub.

“The most heartbreaking part is we just want a stable future for our children but we don’t know what we’re going to do. We haven’t even got a place to move to yet.

“We’re all just in shock. We were hoping to get some help from the brewery or the government.

“People travel for miles to come and eat here and they’re all devastated. We’re all just really, really upset.”

And Alex said: “We’ve invested so much time and effort into this place, even sacrificing our time with the kids for the sake of this pub and the community, which we love.

“It’s so heartbreaking because we feel like we’re all part of a big happy family but now we have to break up with them.”