The view from Southport Autumn statement misses the mark for small traders

Southport pier has stretched into the Irish sea since the Victorian era, surviving fires, Nazi warplanes and more than 160 years of day-trippers treading its sandy boards. Today it stands as amonument to decline. The grade II-listed structure, the second longest pier in Britain, has been closed for almost a year after safety surveys found it rotting from within”.

- Josh Halliday

The sad state of this local treasure has caused despair from the promenade to the Commons. The town’s Conservative MP, Damien Moore, raised concerns, during a prime minister’s questions session, about the huge” impact on Southport’s hospitality industry.

Matt Gregson, co-owner of the Pavilion Cafe, Bar and Bistro, on the town’s Lord Street boulevard, said: The pier is definitely a draw to bring people in, so Southport is missing out because it's closed.".

Gregson, 49, and his business partner, Rosie Blackburn, 41, watched the chancellor's autumn statement yesterday in the hope of a boost before what they expected to be a difficult winter.

Despite a handful of hospitality-friendly announcements from the chancellor - such as the freeze on alcohol duty and an extension to the business rates discount - the news did not leave them overjoyed.

"Our energy costs are through the roof. Some weeks we're just managing to wash our face and that's about it," said Gregson.

In July the pair opened a pizza restaurant, called Crave, and the oven alone costs £100 a day to run, taking the company's overall electricity bill to about £2,000 a month. The increase in the national living wage woud just add to the pressure, they said.

"I think we will just have to increase prices," said Blackburn. "We're not drowning because we're still here and we can manage but it's a lot harder than before Covid."