ABERYSTWYTH’S high street has suffered another blow following the announcement that The Carlton Restaurant has closed.

Mr Gaffari Guder, who has owned the Carlton, which is situated above the Superdrug store on Great Darkgate Street, told the Cambrian News it was no longer ‘worth it’ to keep the restaurant open as a result of increased prices, issues with suppliers and difficulty finding staff.

Mr Guder said the problems began over the last few years, adding: “When the pandemic started and with everything going on now, things have changed, they’re blaming Brexit, they’re blaming the wars, everything is going up.

“You know yourself, if you go into Lidl or Tesco, everything just keeps going up.

“It’s not that it’s a few things either, it’s that every single thing is going up, some stuff has doubled and other things have tripled.

“You can’t put your prices up either, because the customer can’t afford it.

“People aren’t going out like they used to and they’re not spending as much as they used to. I can’t go up because I won’t have a customer.

“You can’t charge £10 or £12 for breakfast because people won’t pay for it. I’ve noticed people used to have bigger meals but people right now are going for smaller things like toasties or paninis. People are looking after their pockets a lot more with the cost of living.

“The way things are going, there’s not enough money, there’s more going out.”

“It’s difficult to find people who want to work nowadays, nobody wants to work.

“Everybody wants to work from home. There are so many issues, those who do want to work don’t want to work many hours.

“You can’t really do this job working from home, someone else would have to cook or serve customers.

“People’s attitudes have changed since the pandemic, people don’t care anymore.

“These big companies used to try and look out for you as a small business, but the prices are going up. It’s very much ‘this is the price, take it or leave it.’

“The prices go up every week. We used to get reps who came and offered price matches from suppliers, but none of that happens now.”

“We can’t get deliveries like we used to either. We used to get deliveries six days a week, and one of those days would be Saturday, our busiest day.

“We can’t get a delivery on Saturday anymore even though our suppliers will be delivering to other businesses in town. It’s like they’re focusing on bigger businesses, or looking out for themselves.

“All the people I’ve spoken to are saying similar things, there’s going to be nothing left in town.

“It’s not worth it anymore.

Mr Guder said the problems his restaurant faced had made it ‘really difficult to survive.’ It was because of this, he made the ‘difficult’ decision to close.

Mr Guder concluded: “It’s why I made the decision to close, I was getting more stressed, and eventually, it just wasn’t worth it anymore. You get more and more stressed, and you don’t make enough to make a living. You look into your bank account and there’s not enough coming in, more is going out, it’s not sustainable.”