Bury St Edmunds Hospitality Businesses Showcased
Hospitality business owners in Bury St Edmunds have been talking about the key issues affecting their sector with the head of a leading trade organisation. UK Hospitality’s Chief Executive Kate Nicholls OBE was visiting the town – known as Suffolk’s foodie capital – alongside Jo Churchill MP for Bury St Edmunds earlier today (Friday 15 March).
Ms Nicholls met those working in pub, hotel and restaurant businesses in the town and also went to the Greene King brewery, which has been a significant part of the Bury St Edmunds economy for more than 200 years. She was also accompanied by UK Hospitality member Roxane Marjoram, who owns The One Bull and other local hospitality businesses with her husband David.
The visit began at the historic Angel Hotel. Owner Robert Gough said: “It was extremely valuable to sit down with Kate Nicholls and our MP to discuss the hotel sector and its current challenges. My family has run boutique destinations in Suffolk for nearly 60 years but that doesn’t mean we can ever take our eye off the ball.”
Joining the group and representing the town centre’s wider hospitality sector was Mark Cordell, Chief Executive of Our Bury St Edmunds BID (Business Improvement District). He commented: “We have around 100 hospitality business members of the BID and it is a critical element of our local economy. I’m in regular contact anyway with our MP about issues affecting the town centre but was delighted to have this opportunity talk further with Jo and Kate about why Bury St Edmunds is the foodie capital of Suffolk and discuss some of our members’ concerns such as VAT, staffing and the rising costs all are facing.”
Following the meeting at The Angel, the visitors were taken by Pedalcab to the Greene King brewery. Ms Nicholls was also given a short tour of part of the town centre during which a number of other hospitality businesses were highlighted before Roxane and David Marjoram welcomed her to The One Bull. The group then visited Lark run by award-winning chef-patron James Carn.
The UK Hospitality Chief Executive found her day in Bury St Edmunds extremely valuable and thanked Jo Churchill MP for the invitation. She added: “This has been an opportunity to visit long-established and much newer hospitality businesses here but it’s clear that collectively they all contribute to a sector that is so vital to Bury St Edmunds as a destination. As well as the names above the door at these establishments there are the behind-the-scenes staff who all play their part in making sure they offer the best guest experiences and UK Hospitality is here for all of them. While I have seen a lot of positives today, I know that businesses in Bury St Edmunds will still be looking to us to lobby Government and influence policy to help this sector thrive.”
Jo Churchill MP added: “It was great to welcome Kate Nicholls to Bury St Edmunds and for her to meet some fabulous business owners here. We do food better than just about anybody else in the country and we are definitely the foodie capital of the East. To have the lead voice of UK Hospitality here talking about not only the great foodie offer we have, but also some of the challenges to the industry was quite a marker for Bury St Edmunds and my thanks to Our Bury St Edmunds BID and all the businesses.”
Nationally UK Hospitality represents more than 100,000 venues across the UK. The sector contributes £93 billion to the UK economy, employs 3.5 million people and generates £54 billion in tax for the Treasury.
