Labour Adviser’s “No More Restaurants” Remark Sparks Backlash Across Hospitality Sector
A government-appointed business adviser has drawn sharp condemnation from senior hospitality figures after publicly declaring that the United Kingdom has no need for additional restaurants, in remarks that industry representatives say reflect a worrying lack of engagement from Westminster with the licensed trade.
Alex Depledge, who serves as an entrepreneurship adviser to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, made the comments during a broadcast interview in which she outlined her priorities for the role. Depledge, whose career has centred on the property technology space — she is the founder of home extension specialist Resi UK and lettings platform Good Lord — indicated that hospitality fell outside the scope of her focus.
She was reported as saying the country required no further restaurant openings and that, while she held no ill-will towards the sector, it was not where she intended to direct her energies.
Instead, she argued that government attention should be channelled towards technology businesses, start-ups and scale-ups capable of driving structural economic growth.
The remarks landed badly across an industry already under significant financial strain.
Michelin-starred chef Michel Roux Jr took to social media to voice his frustration, questioning the calibre of those advising the government on enterprise matters. His intervention was swiftly followed by Sacha Lord, chair of the Night Time Industries Association and a figure well known to the licensed on-trade, who said the sector had long struggled to understand why the Treasury appeared to be looking the other way.
“As an industry, we have consistently been left wondering why the Chancellor seems unwilling to engage with us,” Lord said. He pointed to the recent increase in employer National Insurance contributions as a measure that had blindsided operators with little warning, and characterised the government’s approach to business rates reform as a stealth tax by another name.
Lord also underlined the economic weight of the sector, noting that small and medium-sized enterprises — the backbone of the hospitality and licensed trade — represent the largest share of private sector employment in the country.
Licensee and industry campaigner Andy Lennox added his voice to the criticism, urging the adviser to exercise greater care when making public pronouncements about sectors she had no direct experience of working within. Lennox questioned whether shaping policy affecting hundreds of thousands of hospitality workers should fall to individuals with no background in the trade.
The strength of feeling reflects the precarious position the sector currently finds itself in. Hospitality accounts for approximately seven per cent of total UK employment, supporting around 2.6 million workers — a figure broadly comparable to the retail sector. Both industries have reported contracting workforces as businesses attempt to absorb the cost of rising wage-related tax obligations introduced by the current administration.
Data from the Office for National Statistics underlines the pressure operators are facing. Restaurant numbers declined by 1.3 per cent in the period between 2024 and 2025, leaving fewer than 89,700 establishments trading across the country.
Industry bodies have continued to lobby for a more level playing field on fiscal support. Particular frustration has been directed at the structure of the Chancellor’s emergency business rates relief package for hospitality venues, which extended a 15 per cent discount and a two-year rates freeze to pubs but explicitly excluded restaurants and hotels — a distinction that operators have struggled to reconcile with any coherent industrial logic.