After just 3 years at their own bricks and mortar restaurant, Clucking Oinks are closing their Castlegate location.

They will be shutting their doors on May 30, however, this isn’t the end of Clucking Oinks in York, as they are staying put in the container street-food hub Spark.

They will also continue to trade inside Stack, a similar venue to Spark, located in Newcastle city centre.

Mike Brand, owner of Clucking Oinks said:

‘We have just got to a point where we work so many hours… and it no longer becomes realistically worth it’

However, the workload isn’t the only reason that independent business’ like this are having to close their doors.

‘There is two hospitality venues closing every single day in the UK. The VAT is broke in hospitality, firmly broke! We pay the most VAT in food out of all of Europe.’

With York being filled with small independent restaurants cafes and bars, will many of our local favourites also face the same fate?

He continued:

‘The have (raised) all the taxes to us, we live in a world now where we pay ridiculous amounts for our energy. There will continue to be more and more places go, which is sad, but for us its no longer worth it, its not worth all our time, our effort and … its funny, when we did less we came away with more.’

Listen to the full interview below.

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