'Where's my breathing space?': Chorley pie shop owner hits out as budget plans miss his business

A Chorley pie shop owner and former Apprentice star has voiced criticism after yesterday’s budget left him without the ‘breathing space’ the chancellor promised.

Paul Bowen, who took part in The Apprentice in 2024, told Good Morning Britain that changes announced in the autumn budget to help the high street had in fact left him even more out of pocket than before.

Small businesses across the UK will see an increase in business rates relief, paid for by increasing gambling taxes.

It means that 70,000 businesses will be taken out of paying business rates altogether.

However, Bowen told Good Morning Britain that he would not qualify for any relief as he owns more than one shop.

Only a month ago, Bowen said he had been forced to close one of his three shops as it had become “unsustainable” to employ people, despite raking in £100,000 a year.

His Facebook post announcing the closure, where he also criticised the number of empty shop fronts in Chorley, prompted a response from the Prime Minister, who said: "I am listening and I'm sorry it has got to the point that you need to close your doors."

This year’s budget will see minimum wage rise by 3.9 per cent in April - 50p for those 21 and over (from £12.71 to £13.20), and 42p for 18-to-20-year-olds (from £10.85 to £11.27).

“The minimum wage has increased,” Bowen said this morning. “I’m not saying we shouldn’t pay staff, what I’m saying is we can’t afford to pay them.”

He added that hiring people under 21 - who saw a smaller rise to the minimum wage than older people - wasn’t a solution. “All my staff have been with us for years, so I’m going to have approximately £700 a week increase.

“If I’m having a £700 a week increase, my suppliers are having an increase. My supplier bill’s around £20,000 to £30,000 a week.

“That will be ten per cent, so £2,000 to £3,000 a week... so that’s £4,000 a week I’ve got to find. That’s about 20,000 to 30,000 pies a week.

“So, my week has gone up,” he said. “I've got no business rates. I've got no relief. The National Insurance is crippling me. The energy crisis is crippling me.

“I'm going to have to put my prices up, customers are going to get mad, I'm going to get less profit.”

Other business owners around Lancashire also said they think more could have been done to provide tangible help on the high street.

Also announced in the budget was a £100 energy bill relief for properties on council tax bands A to D, though only for households.

Jonny Yates, who owns Winckley Ale House, told the Lancashire Post yesterday that he too felt the squeeze from high costs.

“Things like electric is still bloody too high. Water is too high,” he said.

“I did a little back of the envelope cost calculations for things like beer duty, and the beer duty for our lager so far this year is £4,000.

“There are things out there that support supermarkets, but not us: Greggs, for example, don’t have to pay VAT on their sausage rolls, but we have to because ours come out hot and on a plate. That doesn’t seem fair.

“I do think there could be more support for smaller businesses.”

But, he added that he disagreed with focusing on the minimum wage as the biggest problem facing employers.

“People are always concentrating on things like the minimum wage, and I’ll be honest, it annoys me, because at the end of the day, I’ll tell you who isn’t complaining: the people on minimum wage.

“At the end of the day, everything has gotten more expensive. I don’t want to employ somebody, and they can’t go out and do stuff because they’re not getting paid.”

On Good Morning Britain, Bowen said that the changes announced in the budget would see business owners like him lose out, as he issued a plea to John Healey.

“Me as a family, as a director, I've got to take a 2% cut. My one-year-old girl, we're a family. I'm taking a pay cut, my business is taking a pay cut.

“John Healey, if you’re listening, where’s my breathing space? You promised the UK breathing space. Where is it?”