Fikret Ozer, who runs 314 Kitchen and Restaurant with partner Gozde, says trade has been ‘very slow’

INDEPENDENT businesses in Islington have warned that they will “disappear” from the borough’s high streets without more support, as a national campaign to lower VAT has been launched.

The “VATs the problem” campaign, spearheaded by chef Tom Kerridge, is calling on the government to lower VAT from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, in line with other countries in Europe.

Independent businesses across the borough told of their anxieties around keeping their doors open, claiming many more would go under if some support was not pledged by the government.

Family-run Italian restaurant Lamezia has been trading in Holloway Road for 17 years.

The owner, Maria Dell’Aquilla, said she supported the campaign to lower VAT. “I think it could provide valuable breathing space for every business to reinvest, helping them to grow and benefiting the wider economy,” she said.

“Every quarter I dread making the VAT payment because after that’s been taken, on top of business rates, staff costs and supplies, I’m left with nothing.

“Often, I’ve had to use my own wages and own savings just in order for the business to stay afloat.

“Of course, VAT is crucial, we all understand that. But I’m just arguing that reducing it would allow small businesses to thrive, because most of them are closing down within 12 months at the moment.”

Lamezia has been trading in Holloway Road for 17 years

Celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi, who has a restaurant in Islington, has thrown his weight behind the campaign, calling the current situation “crippling” for hospitality industry shops.

Last week, the Tribune reported that Sambal Shiok, a long-standing Malaysian restaurant in Holloway Road, had closed down, with its owner citing the VAT rates, which have been at 20 per cent since 2011, as a fundamental factor. This, alongside Covid, had made staying open impossible.

Simon Peace is the owner of High Ground coffee shop in Upper Street. He said that the government needed to “have a proper look” at the effect VAT was having on small business.

He said: “We are, like everybody else, under a lot of strain.

“Six hospitality industry shops are currently projected to close per day.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a high turnover because you lose most of it, and so now every small business owner is throwing their own money at it just to stay alive.

“I think Europe have got it right because they prioritise the hospitality industry. They recognise that if VAT is low, the industry is big and is allowed to grow.

“Our industry here is shrinking because costs are too high, whereas if we said ‘let’s ease off a little bit’, then everybody shares the success. The government take a lower percentage of a higher amount, shops and restaurants that would close are now open.”

Simon Peace of High Ground coffee in Upper Street

“The risk is that if we don’t act we could just have high streets full of chains, and that means we miss out on having local businesses that contribute to a local economy, and where people know the owners.”

Andy Burnham, who is anticipated to challenge Sir Keir Starmer to lead the country, has also publicly advocated for VAT to be reduced to 10 per cent, to match countries such as France and Germany.

Fikret Ozer, who runs 314 Kitchen and Restaurant with his partner Gozde, told the Tribune that since Covid, running a successful independent business has felt “almost impossible”.

He said that in the last year especially, business had been “very slow”.

He said: “To be honest, so many businesses like ours are really struggling. We are struggling, we can’t afford to hire any full-time staff, so me and my partner do everything here, sometimes maybe we get a part-time person in.

“Costs and supplies have got more expensive but we can’t put our prices up to match this because people are eating out less and they feel insecure generally.

“There’s more and more empty shops on our high streets. Look at Upper Street for example, Islington isn’t a prime location anymore.

“Even if they wrote VAT completely off, which they won’t do, loads of businesses will continue to shut down and disappear.”

The campaign currently has more than 200,000 online signatures and will be presented to the government on July 1.