UK pubs and restaurants are significantly scaling back staffing levels as higher costs and weaker consumer demand continue to batter the hospitality sector.
New data from Bristol-based hospitality recruitment platform Limber shows that average shift hours posted by hospitality businesses in 2025 are down 30% compared with 2022, underlining the depth of pressure facing operators across the industry.
According to Limber, average monthly shift hours per business have fallen from 112 hours in 2022 to just 79 hours in 2025, as venues attempt to control costs by running leaner rotas and reducing reliance on flexible labour.
Hospitality was among the sectors hardest hit during the pandemic and has struggled to regain momentum amid a toxic mix of double-digit inflation, higher wage bills, rising taxes, elevated interest rates and a prolonged cost-of-living crisis.
Chris Sanderson, chief executive of Limber, said the data reflects a structural shift in how pubs and restaurants are operating.
“Hospitality businesses have been steadily cutting staff hours since the pandemic,” he said. “A combination of increased costs and falling consumer confidence means venues are trying to do more with less and, in many cases, are simply quieter than they were before.
“Until the economy improves and people genuinely feel better off, this worrying trend is likely to continue.”
The reduction in shift hours suggests that many operators are opting to shorten opening hours, reduce service levels or rely more heavily on owners and core staff to keep businesses viable.
For smaller, independent venues, the pressures are particularly acute.
Danny Matthews, owner of The Pennycress, a coffee shop in South Cerney near Cirencester, said his business has been forced to raise prices selectively while absorbing other costs to remain competitive.
“The biggest killers right now are wages and business rates,” he said. “We’ve had to raise some prices, though customers have generally understood, and we’ve absorbed other costs to keep popular items friction-free, such as alternative milks, which can be double the cost of dairy.
“Rates relief alone isn’t enough for a young hospitality business. Support with energy, VAT and National Insurance all matter, and there’s a real lack of understanding from government about just how thin hospitality margins really are.”
Matthews added that the closure of independent hospitality venues has wider consequences for local communities.
“If The Pennycress closed tomorrow, South Cerney wouldn’t just lose a coffee shop — it would lose a space that connects people and supports local food producers. Hospitality is hard, but it’s becoming almost impossible to do it well.”
HR and employment specialist Kate Underwood, founder of Kate Underwood HR and Training, said the decline in hospitality staffing is symptomatic of deeper problems across town centres and high streets.
“When pubs and restaurants close or cut back, it’s like a town losing its living room,” she said. “Hospitality was always tough. Now it’s tougher still, with bigger wage bills, higher employer National Insurance, soaring energy costs — and customers still expecting five-star service on a shoestring budget.
“Hospitality isn’t dying because owners can’t run businesses. It’s being bled out by rising bills while everyone asks why the lights are going out on the high street.”
Underwood said operators that are surviving tend to take a ruthless approach to costs, particularly around menus and staffing.
“The venues that endure are forensic about rotas and menu engineering — ditching low-margin dishes and pushing profitable ones. But even the best-run businesses can only cut so far.”
With consumer confidence fragile and further cost increases expected across wages, business rates and employer taxes, industry figures warn that reduced staffing levels may become a permanent feature of the hospitality landscape unless meaningful, sector-specific support is introduced.
For now, the data suggests many pubs and restaurants are prioritising survival over growth, with fewer shifts, shorter hours and increasingly cautious hiring decisions defining hospitality in 2025.
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Hospitality shift hours fall 30% as pubs and restaurants cut back amid rising costs
