The founder of Bread Ahead bakery, Matthew Jones, has said Britain is becoming "less attractive" for businesses after claiming he was banned from Borough Market for being too successful.
Jones alleged his bakery was asked to leave the market because its goods are so popular with visitors. He told the Daily Mail the decision showed the challenges facing business owners in Britain.
"It's tough enough running a business in London at the moment without having a big landlord come and shut you down," he said. "It gets less attractive to run a business [in Britain] by the day."
Bread Ahead has served doughnuts, sourdough, pastries and coffee to customers at Borough Market since 2013. Jones said that after entering a lease renewal process, he was told the bakery had been "too successful" and would have to leave.
He alleged Borough Market told him that opening new chains abroad went against its policy, and that representatives said they did not have space to house such a popular stall because of the number of customers it attracts.
Expansion abroad
Bread Ahead is preparing to open a bakery in New York in November, its first location in the United States. The company also has sites across Asia and the Middle East, including in Bangkok, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
"Does that mean that every business in the market that gets successful has to leave?" Jones said. "If you don't run a business well you are going to fail, but if it is successful, like mine has been, then you will be punished for it. What's the motivation for anybody to be entrepreneurial?"
Jones founded Bread Ahead in 2013 after leaving school at 15 and working as a chef. The bakery has become an online sensation thanks to glowing customer reviews of its baked goods.
Jones told the Mail it could cost up to £800,000 to move the shop out of Borough Market to another London location. He has previously said the move could put the jobs of the bakery's 83 employees at risk.
"We are doing everything we can within reason and then I'm being told I'm too successful. So they are ripping away half of my business. I can't replace that," he said.
'Tall poppy syndrome'
In 2014 the company opened its own bakery school to "show the public just how easy baking good bread can be." Jones said he had also just launched an initiative to teach a million children how to bake for free.
He has accused Borough Market of engaging in "tall poppy syndrome," the idea that those who stand out through success are cut down. "I left school at 15 and was a chef, I worked for 30 years and built a business from nothing," he said previously. "I've never borrowed a penny in my life. I've built this, I'm bootstrapped to this business. It's unbelievable, the devastating effect."
"If they pull this through it would mean the loss of 83 jobs in London, it would mean the loss of a business there," he added. "It's incomprehensible, the stress that I'm under right now." Jones said the market had given him a year to wind down operations.
Borough Market's response
A spokesman for Borough Market said its relationships with traders were important, whether they were actively trading or part of its "alumni of success stories," and that it valued their contribution regardless of how long they had been there.
The spokesman said decisions on lease renewals were made through a formal process communicated to traders well in advance of the expiry date, and that discussions relating to individual tenancies were confidential. The market said its approach was to apply its processes fairly and consistently while ensuring Borough Market continued to evolve as one of London's leading food destinations where independent businesses can thrive.
Another long-standing trader facing closure
Maria's Market Café, which has traded at Borough Market for 65 years, is also facing closure after the market said its lease would not be renewed. Emma Leyton, who helps run the café, said the future was looking bleak, with an already a sense of loss, remorse and confusion.
Hospitality owners have faced a string of challenges in recent years. Former chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the employer National Insurance contribution rate from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent and reduced the secondary threshold to £5,000, a change that dragged many part-time and lower-paid staff into the tax for the first time.
Allen Simpson, chief executive of UK Hospitality, said the National Insurance change was "the single biggest contribution to job losses we have seen in hospitality over the last two years."
Ministers are now laying out plans for a "tourist tax" in England, with mayors and other local leaders set to get powers to impose charges on accommodation as part of the government's latest move to raise revenues. Businesses have warned the charges could add hundreds of pounds to the cost of holidays and put tens of thousands of hospitality jobs at risk.
