At the six-room B&B pub, a stopping point before the final Coast to Coast leg to Robin Hood’s Bay, the landlord says his shifts can stretch to 18 hours a day due to staffing cutbacks.
Since April 2025, employers have had to pay National Insurance at 15% on salaries above £5,000, up from 13.8% on salaries above £9,100.
The government also increased the minimum wage by 4.1% to £12.71 per hour in April for workers aged over 21, which made the publican reduce staff from four to two.
“I just financially cannot afford to continue,” Tony says.
“If you’re a landlord, it isn’t a job – it’s a lifestyle.
“You get up in the morning, you cook breakfast for your residents, you’re cleaning, tidying, it’s an all-day lifestyle. You can’t do this nine to five.”
Turning 69 this year, Tony has decided to move back home to Leeds and relieve himself of the pressures of running a pub.
“People seem to go in thinking it’s a super duper job, but there’s an awful lot of background work to be done,” he adds.
Speaking on a visit to Scarborough last week, the former minister for employment, Dame Diana Johnson, said Tony’s case was “really sad to hear”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), she said: “I know that hospitality and pubs in particular have had a hard time, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There’s been support that’s gone into supporting pubs, and there’s support that was announced around business rates, and £4.3bn was announced to help small businesses and pubs.
“I’d also say that the national living wage has gone up, but we think that’s a fair amount for it to go up.”
Alison Hume, the MP for Scarborough and Whitby, admitted that increases to National Insurance contributions “have hit smaller employers hard” but added that “we are now backing up our promise to help them with breaks”.
She told the LDRS: “We’ve reduced the VAT on attractions, we’re giving children free bus travel in August, and obviously we’re always looking at how we can help the hospitality industry – it is tough, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t.”
