Hi all

It’s been quite a while since I last penned a blog post, so I felt it was time to share the honest, behind-the-scenes reality of what’s been happening here at foureighty™.

To say the last ten months have been challenging would be a huge understatement.

Since April 2025, a combination of increased business rates, higher employer National Insurance contributions, and a rightly increased National Minimum Wage have dramatically changed the financial landscape for hospitality businesses like ours.  Each of these changes makes sense in isolation. Together, they have created an extremely difficult environment to operate within.

As anyone running an independent hospitality business will tell you, profit margins have been slashed to razor-thin levels, often just 3–4%. With another business rates increase planned for April 2026, we will need to generate roughly 10% more revenue simply to stand still.

These are sobering times.

One of the least understood pressures we face is VAT. Across Europe, the average VAT rate for hospitality is around 10%. Here in the UK, it is 20%.

Most businesses can reclaim VAT on their largest costs. Hospitality cannot.

The core items we buy to run this business, coffee, milk, pastries, sandwiches and cakes, are zero-rated. That means we pay no VAT when we purchase them. However, when we sell those same items, VAT is applied. As a result, we cannot reclaim VAT on the very things that are essential to our operation.

What makes this all the more difficult to reconcile is that foureighty™ is thriving.

We are incredibly busy throughout the week. Thanks to the frankly Herculean efforts of our amazing team, the business is operating better than it ever has. Local support continues to grow and we are around 20% up on last year.

And yet, despite all of this, the financial pressure remains intense.

This is not about poor management or lack of demand. It is about a system where success no longer guarantees sustainability. If a business as busy and well supported as ours is finding it this difficult, it’s hard not to worry about the future of independent hospitality more broadly.

And this is where the conversation becomes bigger than just foureighty™.

Independent businesses are not just shops or cafés. They shape the character, culture, and identity of our high streets. They support real families living real lives, who reinvest locally, create meaningful jobs, and build genuine community.

If independents disappear, they are not replaced with something equivalent. They are replaced with chains, with distant ownership, uniform high streets, and profits extracted from the local economy rather than fed back into it.

Shenfield would simply not be the place it is today without its independent businesses. From coffee to flowers, wine to food, it’s these businesses that give the area its personality and appeal.

We even see it reflected in local estate agent listings, where our shopfront and others like it are regularly featured as selling points to prospective homeowners. Independent businesses make areas desirable. They raise the value of place, not just property.

That is why the current pressure on independents matters. When the system makes it harder for businesses like ours to survive, it isn’t just cafés at risk, it’s the fabric of the high street itself.

For us, this reality has meant a relentless focus on cost control, trimming back wherever possible without compromising quality, standards, or service. Our team have been nothing short of incredible, stepping up time and again, and I’m pleased to say that this hard work is finally beginning to show results.

As part of this focus, we made the difficult decision to pause all foureighty™ events during the last quarter of 2025 and into 2026. Social media has also taken a bit of a back seat while we concentrate on keeping the business healthy and sustainable.

It’s now February 2026, and with your continued local support, we are busier than ever. That support genuinely makes a difference when it comes to meeting the ever-rising costs of running the business.

As a result of all the number crunching, we’re making a small but very necessary change to our opening hours, moving to a winter and summer schedule.

From Monday 9 February, we will be closing at:

4pm Monday to Saturday

3pm on Sundays.

These winter hours will remain in place until the spring, when lighter evenings and better weather allow us to extend opening times again and enjoy sitting outside in the sunshine together, something that feels especially welcome right now.

We cannot properly express how grateful we are for the support we receive from our local community. It genuinely keeps us going.

We will continue to improve, with some exciting developments waiting in the wings, particularly around food and drink. Creating a buzz in Shenfield is something we love to do, and right now there’s a real sense of momentum building.

You know we don’t sit still for long.

We are foureighty™ after all.

A new blog post about what’s coming next will follow shortly, so keep your eyes peeled.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for your continued support.

Big LOVE ❤️

Matt 😊