Impact of cost rises on high street restaurants

As high streets and town centres evolve, local businesses are making changes to adapt.

Moving to a suburb in Bournemouth means less overheads according to the owner of Ojo Rojo, which is located on the high street.

Another food outlet, Vegivores, has closed as an eatery and is re-opening for pre-booked event space.

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) were given the power to auction the lease of empty shops in December as part of a national trial to revive town centres.

"This isn't a goodbye to Ojo Rojo. It's the beginning of a new chapter"; wrote the managing director, Trevor Hill, in a social media post that announced the closure of the venue.

Mr Hill told the BBC the company had dealt with difficult times over the last 10 years; "with costs going up and the footfall dropping, unfortunately we haven't been able to marry those two together.

"We are looking to move to a suburb where a lot more independents are based and get a smaller building to manage."

"Moving out of the town centre will have a big impact" Mr Hill said.

"There's not a lot of places left outside of the big chains and a few people have said to us 'why would I come in now?' and it's a shame because I remember eight years or 10 years ago Bournemouth town centre was bustling."

Kevin Farrell opened Vegivores in Bournemouth in 2024, five years after launching a restaurant in Reading.

Mr Farrell said the journey has been up and down "people are going out less, they're thinking more about where they spend their disposable income so customer frequency is dropping.

"From a business perspective the cost of employing people has risen exponentially with the most recent increases in April.

"So all of that has made it a very challenging environment to maintain any margins and that's before you get into inflation of ingredients."

As well as running the restaurant Mr Farrell has an events business that caters for weddings and birthday parties.

"We are still using our location in Bournemouth to do that and we have a lot of loyal customers in Bournemouth that we want to maintain a relationship with.

"Instead of being open seven days a week and taking those costs on the chin, we are hosting pop up evenings here to only open for specific things."

BCP Council is working to tackle empty units on the high street by working with landlords through the Government's High Street Rental Auctions scheme.

Councillor Richard Herrett, portfolio holder for destination, leisure, and commercial operations said it is "in collaboration with the BIDs, and taking a pro-growth planning approach, which has seen number of large redevelopments reimagining the high street.

"There is a growing confidence in Bournemouth town centre. In recent months we've seen new businesses including The Ivy, The Botanist, JD Gym, and Savers open.

"The space vacated by the WHSmith will soon return to use; whilst Bobby's continues to grow from strength-to-strength."

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