Staff shortages in tourist areas.

[StaffShortages]

I've just returned from the Lake District and there's a severe shortage of staff, partly due to Brexit but also apparently because of a lack of affordable accommodation. One chip shop was offering £14 an hour for a counter assistant. Many restaurants shut for a day or two because of staff shortages.

Is the same happening in other touristy parts of the UK?

Noticed it a lot in Northumberland last year

Lots of cafes etc closed due to no staff

Yep. Second homes/holiday lets/air bnbs etc have taken all the accommodation, so no one can afford to actually live/work here 🤷‍♀️

Yes, Pembrokeshire. Gorgeous, popular bars and restaurants barely open due to no staff.

I'm from the Lakes originally and it's been like this for a summer or two.

Part of the problem is a falling local birthrate. My secondary school numbers have dropped from 700 (Inc sixth form) to 350. People can't afford to have kids there, and it was always easy to pick up summer cash as a teen waiting tables etc.

It was like this when I went to Cornwall in 2021.

Saw similar in Cornwall - they had also cut the bus routes in covid and not restored them, so the last bus leaving the village with touristy restaurants going to the inland towns where people live all year round left at 6pm. That's no good for anyone wanting to work a dinner service shift unless they can get a lift or have a car, and then parking is so hard to find and if you do find it, it's expensive.

So you have local people who could take the jobs 10 miles from where the restaurant needs the workers, but nothing connecting them up. Seems such a simple fix...

@PatFussy

It's got worse since 2021 in Cornwall.

Some pubs and restaurants have tried to get staff by paying more but this just increases the price of the meal causing tourists to complain about being ripped off or the pub / restaurant loses business to those that don't pay their staff more and keep their prices lower.

From what I have seen the more common approach is to not pay staff more but to just offer a shit service and work those employees that are there into the ground until they quit. Then new staff come in meaning an even lower quality of service. And to be honest most customers put up with it rather than pay more.

It’s an issue where I live. Housing is very expensive both rented and to buy. There’s not many buses. The people who do live in the area are mainly either retired, wfh in higher paid employment, council/nhs/civil service type jobs or run their own businesses. There’s just not many people who will/have to do minimum wage jobs in customer service. Lots of mums are stay at home as well
Many of the traditional small cheaper properties are holiday let’s as well.

Yes I started a thread about this about a month ago! I didn’t say what town it was in, but people named about five different places and said they had problems with all of them.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4850438-bad-service-in-restaurants-all-in-the-same-town-is-it-just-us?reply=127699722

It's similar in east Devon. Lots of people move here in retirement - Sidmouth is known as God's Waiting Room. Public transport (where it exists) is expensive and unreliable. There is none in my village. Jobs are minimum wage, house prices are ridiculous.

DD2 is home from uni having been unable to secure an internship so is working in a local cafe. Prices are expensive in there, but the stories DD tells us about some customers are unbelievable. They are so rude! I was in there on Saturday and heard an entitled visitor being rude to one of the staff. I said something to him, partly because I give zero fucks about what twats like him think, and partly because I pride myself on having taught my kids decent manners. He apologised to the member of staff and disappeared. Most of the staff are students, either in 6th form or home from uni because they are the only ones who will work for that money.

DD works her butt off on her shifts. She does not expect a red carpet, but would like it if people said "please" and if they read the notices first. Her best from yesterday was a cake clearly marked as "Coffee and Walnut". A woman asked if she had to have coffee with it as she preferred tea. DD patiently explained that coffee was the flavour of the cake and she could accompany it with any drink, but the woman still didn't get it and repeated she didn't like coffee. She came back in 10 minutes later and ordered a slice...

Earlier in the holidays almost every cafe in Lyme Regis was advertising for staff.

Yep, exactly this.

In some areas they are looking at ways to prevent/reduce 2nd home ownership / air bnbs through increased tax, planning restrictions etc. It can only be a good thing for the local economy if they manage to do so, as these areas are currently stifled by lack of workers.

I live in a touristy city. Took my DC ages to find a job this summer. Had spent over 4 years volunteering in outdoors in all weathers from aged 12 but all the hospitality places they applied to wanted someone with hospitality experience, even if the advert didn’t state it, no one seemed to be interested in providing training. Found something eventually and is grateful the place seem willing to show the ropes but is minimum wage of £5.28/hr in an extremely busy environment so they’re hoping they can move on to something else soon.

I would imagine touristy cities (which will have a larger population) are quite different to touristy rural areas (which have far fewer people) in terms of the local economy/competitin for jobs on offer etc.

I haven't noticed bars/restaurants in cities having to close half the week, or do short hours due to lack of staff, whereas in rural areas that is definitelt happening.

There's a shortage of workers in the UK generally, and then with many tourist industry jobs there's also the two headed problem of low pay and limited accommodation locally.

Nail on the head. Holiday home owners have done massive damage - it should never have been allowed.

Trouble is, particularly in the Lake District, a few years ago, the park authorities/district council actually imposed restrictions on the likes of barn conversions, etc., that they could ONLY be used for temporary/holiday accommodation and couldn't be lived in on a permanent basis. So they actively prevented homes being available for locals to buy and live in!

It's complete madness. Local authorities havn't a clue and the problem just gets worse.

It's the same in other "tourist" places like York, Whitby, etc., where locals have ever more difficulty in finding affordable homes to rent or buy!

Brexit has had a huge part to play in staff retention in the lakes.

Years ago Many youngsters arrived from Eastern Europe as it offered a wide variety of work at good pay ( relative to back home) but more interestingly chose to move there because it was a similar environment to what they had left behind. Not everyone wants the big bright lights of London.

rental was never really the issue, there was lots of cheaper student accommodation about, the lakes has always had tourists and second homes. When Brexit came along attitudes changed and there was a lot of resentment on both sides so sadly many Eastern Europeans thought sod this and left.

We went to Cornwall last year and it was the same. Virtually every restaurant and cafe we visited had reduced hours and/or seating because of lack of staff. It was actually hard to find places to eat with 5 of us. That was only our second time in Cornwall, but I don’t think we’ll go back as it just felt too stretched with too many tourists.

Just back from Northumberland and it’s the same. Lack of affordable housing for young people and brexit.

Another reason (other than the extortionate price) to avoid holiday cottages stays in the UK. Having to cook every night because the local eateries can't operate.

Exmoor here, the main issue is there is nowhere to rent around here, so no one new can actually move to the area, or in the case of younger people, stay in the area. Some pubs/hotels offer staff accommodation, in the past this was often taken up by young Europeans working for a while and then travelling for a while, obviously not as appealing for people who want to settle somewhere or have kids etc who are less tolerent of slumming it.

The village I work in has many many second homes, retirees but hardly any young people.

Yes, in my local tourist town the absence of young European workers is very visible, plus in addition we have those 50+ who have left the workplace.

I'm still so cross about Brexit, making my town visibly poorer every day.

I'm from a rural village that isn't in a tourist area but is close to tourist areas by car.
A quarter of the housing stock is now holiday lets or airbnb.

There is nowhere for families to live, and what comes on the market is not affordable.

The village school has closed. Not enough children to have one.

The people who stay in the holiday lets turn up with their cars full and drive off every day. They do not contribute to the local economy.

It's because the workers have been priced out of local homes sadly

And this is the reason many hospitality places want people with experience- because they train inexperienced kids up who then either go back to uni/school/college in September or go off when something better comes along.