Anar Kali Indian Restaurant closes one day a week

Anar Kali Indian Restaurant in Haslingden will now open six days a week rather than every day, and will be shut on Tuesdays until further notice.

The decision to cut hours was described as ‘really difficult’.

Owners Yasin Ali, 42, and Salma Khanom Ali, 41, told their customers about the decision on social media stating they will no longer be trading for seven days a week until further notice due to staggering increases in energy costs and the rise of prices with suppliers.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Yasin said: “I have been running and have owned my restaurant for the last 12 years and in my 12 years I have never experienced anything like this before.

“The gas and electric has shot up enormously, I used to pay 13 pence a kilowatt for my electric and now I’m paying 45 pence per kilowatt.

“It’s unsustainable and plus the rising cost of raw material and dry goods, it’s gone up dramatically.

“I feel very bad we are having to close one day a week, it’s heart-breaking because at the end of the day I’ve always been open seven days and now I have to reduce staff and reduce everything.

“I have to strip down to bare minimum as a business and have to think twice.

“In the evening when I go into the restaurant, I’m scared to put the lights on, I’ve never experienced anything like this before, and I have to tell the staff please don’t put this on don’t put that on.

“My customers are all regulars, I used to have all walks of life coming to my restaurant but now I’m not seeing these customers anymore.

Delicious meals sold at Anar Kali Indian Restaurant (Image: Anar Kali Indian Restaurant)

“The well-off customers are coming in but they are coming in only once a month and the working-class people come in once every two months.

“Some customers are close friends to me, and I say I’ve not seen you this month and they say everything is fine, but we have to cut back on stuff.

“We are in the hospitality industry so if anyone has to cut back, we are the first people who will be impacted because we are not a necessity, we are a luxury.

“The government needs to support people and when people get the support they will come out and eat here again, if they don’t have the spare income they can’t come out.

“I used to buy a drum of 20 litre oil for £21, now I have to pay £40.

“I take pride in my restaurant, and I don’t want to have to cut back and buy cheaper products because my customers can tell the difference.

“Customers are messaging saying we have to do what we have to do to protect our business.

“We haven’t had the heating on in four months because of the good weather but now if we put the heating on, we don’t know what that will do to the meter.

“I can’t keep it open for seven days, so I thought if I close one day then it helps to reduce the cost of everything.”

This isn’t the only case of how the energy prices are impacting the Lancashire community, people up and down the country are also facing soaring energy bills amidst an increasing cost of living crisis.

Do you have a story of a restaurant or another business falling on hard times during the cost-of-living crisis?

Feel free to email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk, or drop me a message on my Twitter, @chloewjourno