Cork business closes its doors due to rising cost of living

A Cork business has been left with no other option but to close its doors with immediate effect amid the current cost of living crisis.

Brunch & Deli on Main Street in Youghal is co-owned by Dan Leahy and Paul McElduff, also of The Old Imperial Hotel.

The business partners took residence on the street six years ago when they first opened the hotel and took on a new venture when they opened Brunch & Deli just 18 months ago.

While The Old Imperial Hotel will remain open, Brunch & Deli has closed its doors.

Speaking to The Echo, co-owner Dan Leahy said that the main reason for the café’s closure is the rising cost of living.

“You can only charge people so much and the problem is that all of the small businesses are having to absorb all of the pain and it just comes to a point where you’re losing money week in, week out.

“Our energy costs went up 150%. It’s very hard to make that back and food costs are going up too, everything is going up. That’s the reason we closed."

“We kept it going for as long as we could and you don’t want to be seen, especially on the main street in the town, closing a business. It was a massive decision for us to even decide to close it.” 

“Nobody wants to close their business,” he said, but said they were faced with a situation where “the bills were outweighing everything else”.

“It’s also very hard for people to be able to afford to go out too when their energy costs are going up and their diesel is going up so people just don’t have the same amount of money they used to have and people going out for lunch and dinner is the first thing to go,” he said.

Encouraging people to shop local, particularly coming into the Christmas period, Mr Leahy said: “Everybody should shop local as best they can. I know things are hard for everybody and everybody is trying to get the best value for their money but if you can at all support local because when you do, you’re supporting somebody else’s family too.” 

Both Mr Leahy and Mr McElduff have received well-wishes from locals who have expressed their sorrow to see the business go.

“Nobody wants to hear that a business is gone. For the locality, there’s nothing worse on Main Street than having an empty building.

“But people have been great and very supportive and I think people understand why,”

he said.