A RESTAURANT in Llandudno has shut its doors, with its owner citing a multitude of financial headaches as the reason for its closure.

Bistro Bach, on Mostyn Avenue, Craig-y-Don, ceased trading on November 26, 2022.

The restaurant opened in 2016 and was a two-man operation, with business partners Bobby Sirrah and Craig Jones covering front of house and the kitchen respectively.

But due to such factors as rising energy prices and the cost of living crisis, Bobby said continuing to run the restaurant was no longer financially viable.

He admitted the decision, while borne out of necessity, was “soul-destroying”.

Bobby said: “We had a perfect storm, where everything which could have possibly happened to us did happen to us.

“COVID put us in a bad place to begin with, and with the cost of living crisis, everything was going up in price. It got to the point where we couldn’t keep track of how fast prices were going up.

“If we had changed our prices in accordance, we’d have been changing our menu prices about every three days.

“We had issues with no phone line or internet for four weeks, which cost us about £15,000 in damages, and since the energy crisis, a vast majority of our regulars have disappeared.”

The restaurant’s closure followed a reduction of its opening hours in September in a bid to lower its electricity bills.

A qualified teacher, Bobby is in the process of filling out forms to go into supply teaching, and has already started part-time work teaching remotely for an online company.

Sadly, much as hurt to have to close Bistro Bach, he does not believe there was anything that could have been done to salvage the business.

Unfortunately, Bobby also fears other small businesses will soon be forced to follow suit.

He added: “We’re an indulgence, so we’re the first thing to go if people have to cut back.

“The value of the pound went down, and people like our wine suppliers buy in Euros, so if the pound goes down, it costs them more to buy the wine, which in turn causes the stock prices to go up for us.

“The tax bracket for small businesses isn’t moving in accordance with the prices of everything going up, so we were just getting boxed in at all angles.

“We never made a fortune there, but we made enough to sustain ourselves, and we were happy with that.

“But it got to the point where, not only was it unsustainable, but we couldn’t make enough money just to pay the electricity bill, even if we were full.

“We calculated that if we didn’t turn the heater on all year, our annual electricity bill would still be about £72,000 – that’s about 85 per cent of what we take every year.

“We were doing everything we could, including lighting candles, but it just got to the point where the business was just no longer viable.

“Our electricity prices in the last year have seen about a 1,000 per cent increase.”

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Bistro Bach’s closure comes at a time when a number of other businesses in Craig-y-Don are staying open late on Thursday evenings before Christmas in a bid to boost trade.

Several such traders have told the Pioneer of the downturn in business of late, and hope that this move precipitates a positive change.

Bobby added: “It’s soul-destroying after putting so much of your life into it. We were really well-respected within the community, had a great set of regulars, and got on with all of the other businesses in the area.

“We’ve just been wiped out. It wasn’t even of a case of: ‘Work a bit harder and it’ll be OK’; there was no amount of work that could have been done to make that business profitable.”