Restaurant in Celtic Manor Resort forced to shut due to lack of staff

A restaurant with rooms in Monmouthshire has become the latest victim of the ongoing hospitality staffing crisis.

The Newbridge on Usk country inn, which is part of the expansive Celtic Manor Resort, will close temporarily from July after facing recruitment issues.

The site's current small team of staff will be brought over to support the team in the resort's main hotel, a spokesperson said.

The group said the decision to shutter the inn, which has six bedrooms, "has been taken in order to consolidate the operation and service of the other five restaurants located at the Celtic Manor Resort" over the busy summer season.

The Celtic Collection Portfolio also includes the 330-bedroom, five-AA-starred Resort hotel, and the 19th-century Manor House with 70 bedrooms. It also operates the 170-bedroom Parkgate hotel, which was launched in Cardiff last autumn in partnership with the Welsh Rugby Union.

In a statement on the closure, the company said: "Recruiting staff is a long-term challenge affecting the entire hospitality industry, as well as many other sectors in the wake of Brexit and the Covid pandemic, but we are proactively looking at new ways to recruit team members."

In a bid to attract staff for the future, the business has opened a job shop drop-in facility in nearby Newport, and has partnered with the Welsh Government and Working Wales on a campaign "to highlight the many rewarding features of working in hospitality".

The update comes after vacancies in the hospitality sector reached a record high last month. Latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed there were 174,000 job vacancies in the industry between March and May.

Staffing shortages have seen many restaurants and hotels cut back on opening hours, hike wages in a bid to compete for talent, or even close completely.

There have been several national initiatives attempting to attract young talent to the industry have launched since the staffing crisis first began to bite in 2021.

They include Hospitality Rising, a movement dedicated to increasing recruitment levels backed by chains from Wahaca and Hawksmoor to Pizza Express, and Choose Hospitality, led by names including Tom Sellers, owner of the Michelin-starred Story London.