Food bar near Bedford closes suddenly due to soaring cost of fish

Shortstown Food Bar has been forced to close with immediate effect.

The fish and chip shop - which operates out of Beauvais Square - said utility bills combined with the price of fish and other key products increasing by an eye-watering 250 per cent has forced the move.

In a post on its Facebook page it said: "It's with an extremely heavy heart that we have to announce we are closing Shortstown Food Bar with immediate effect.

"Over the past 12 months we’ve seen high price increases across the board with all of our products and utility bills.

"We’ve tried our best to absorb as much of these increases as we can without having to pass them on to our customers.

"However the latest increases within the industry has seen the price of fish and other key products we use increase by 250 per cent.

"This would mean we would have to increase our regular cod price from £6.20 to £10+ and this is something that just didn’t sit right with us & equally could never expect customers to pay them kind of prices."

The reason for the rise is due to a large percentage of cod coming from Russia.

The Shortstown Food Bar added: "Last week saw the last fishing vessel return from the Russian waters with limited stock, leaving shops scrambling for whatever produce is available driving prices to an all-time high."

It's feared a third of Britain's fish and chip shops will go out of business over the next 12 months.

However - after seven years operating as Shortstown Food Bar - the owners have vowed to reopen on Monday (March 14) with a new name and menu.

Andrew Crook, National Federation of Fish Friers president, was also fearful for the industry.

He said: "If we get a sanction on Russian fish we can expect costs to triple. It could cause fish and chip shops to go bust.

"It's a very very scary situation but we have to do the right thing by Ukraine. We've got to let Russia know that what they're doing isn't acceptable, but it will be a heavy price to pay for the industry.

"40 to 60 per cent of white fish comes from Russian sources. It's a massive amount of fish that comes in."

Mr Crook added the rise to the minimum wage and potential return to 20 per cent VAT isn't helping the situation.

He said: "I've never seen anything like it, it's everything all at once. It's the most dangerous threat to the industry in 160 years.

"It's not a bright future."