High profile chef Antony Worrall Thompson has expressed his shock at the permanent closure of his former pub-restaurant, the Greyhound in Peppard, only 14 months after stepping away from its management.
The chef had operated the Greyhound for nearly two decades before transferring ownership to David Brown during the summer of 2022. Mr. Brown recently announced the closure, attributing it to ongoing financial pressures and economic challenges.
In a statement on the restaurant’s website David Brown said:
“With a heavy heart, due to continuingly difficult trading conditions and next year’s budget changes I’ve taken the hard decision to close the Greyhound permanently from Monday 2nd of December 2024. Thank you to all of you who’ve enjoyed and supported the Greyhound over the years. David”
Worrall Thompson, 73, who still runs the Grill Off the Green restaurant in Kew, said that he understood the pressures the hospitality industry was facing.
He said: “You spend 18 years in love with a place and then within 18 months it disappears. It’s a crying shame really as it’s such a lovely place.
“It was a fairly quick decision. It’s his money, he made the decision and I’m too old to take it back. I love the place but I’ve got too much on now with other things.
“I knew they were having staff problems, which a lot of places are having nowadays, but I didn’t know he was going to close the place down.”
“He was a bit laden by lack of staff and lack of knowledge of the industry because the industry he was in before he bought this was totally different.”
“As a consultant you can only advise so much, so he has to make decisions, he obviously signed the lease and that choice had to be his.
“I would imagine he will be looking for someone to take it on in the next few months and rebuild from the start really. It’s not easy to sell a restaurant that’s closed, it’s going to be a tough one for him but if I can help him with it in any way I will.”
“I’m there to give advice if he wants it, he’s a really nice guy, it’s a great shame that it’s come to pass this way but it’s a tough business out there at the moment.”
Worrall Thompson said that the hospitality industry was struggling in the wake of recent government policies and the prolonged impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
He said: “It’s tough to get staff and it’s tough to get customers and it’s going to be a very lean 2025 I think so, at the moment, I think it might be quite hard to sell the property. You hear so many pubs have gone down the tubes and so many pubs are going to go down the tubes because of the new Labour policies on the minimum wage and national insurance contributions.”
“The ability to take on youngsters and train them is going to go out the window because who’s going to pay the same wage for a youngster as you would for a 30-year-old?”
“Brexit didn’t help, covid didn’t help and people got very lazy during the pandemic where they were getting 80 per cent of their salaries and they didn’t want to work that hard.”
Worrall Thompson suggested that tax reforms could help rejuvenate the industry. “Reducing VAT on food to 10 per cent could encourage more people to dine out. This could be offset by increasing alcohol taxes, which would also promote healthier choices,” he proposed.
Additionally, he advocated for a levy on ultra-processed foods, emphasizing its potential to raise funds and improve public health. “This approach would not only support the economy but also contribute to a healthier population,” he explained.
Despite the disappointment surrounding the Greyhound’s closure, Worrall Thompson emphasized the resilience required to navigate the challenges of the hospitality industry. While the closure marks the end of an era for the Greyhound, it also reflects the broader struggles faced by many businesses in the current economic climate.
Photo found via Facebook – The Greyhound Pub, https://www.facebook.com/Thegreyhoundgrill
