Lilliput Services in Belfast is one of the unsung companies without which the UK's hotel industry could not exist.

Lord Wolfson is a highly successful businessman, a prominent supporter of Brexit and a Conservative peer. He is, in short, the sort of man who should be in perfect alignment with a government led by Boris Johnson. He isn’t.

Nearly 200,000 hospitality workers have left the UK since the pandemic, despite post-Brexit visa schemes introduced by the Government, according to Caterer.com.

Tourism and hospitality activity in the Ribble Valley and work to stabilise the constantly-changing visitor economy following Brexit and the pandemic is being discussed by borough councillors this week.

Britain’s top hotels are suffering from bartender shortages, with many leaving the industry or moving to new projects.

More than 100 homes could replace a sprawling rural hostel after owners blamed Brexit for a dramatic fall-off in Eastern European workers coming to the Fens.

The end of the holiday season heralds the return to centre stage of a number of burning Brexit-related issues this autumn.

“Brexit has caused us enormous problems with recruitment,” the TV presenter bemoaned after facing a lack of EU staff for her own hotel.

Northern Ireland’s highest-honoured chef has described the impact of Brexit on the UK’s European hospitality workforce as ‘huge’. / "But Brexit has been huge. The whole industry is missing the European workforce."

A RECORD 78 per cent of UK firms attempting to recruit faced difficulties in finding staff in the first quarter, a survey by British Chambers of Commerce shows.

SCOTLAND is suffering a shortage of up to 48,000 hospitality workers as a result of the impact of Covid and new immigration rules following Brexit, according to an industry body.

No matter how much the UK Government tries to make a virtue of Brexit, the decision to quit the European Union and so curb the freedom of people from the bloc to live and work on these shores continues to haunt one of Scotland’s most important industries.

The owner of Crieff Hydro said a recruitment crisis exacerbated by Brexit is harming the hospitality sector’s recovery as he seeks to fill 75 jobs.

HOME Secretary Priti Patel is being asked to visit businesses in the Highlands to see first-hand the recruitment crisis facing tourism and hospitality as a result of Brexit.

AS the Highland tourist season comes to an end, some hotels are closing early due to lack of staff. If the effects of Brexit are not mitigated by seasonal visas, next summer could be even worse, say workers.

Businesses in Cumbria’s hospitality sector fear a perfect storm of Brexit and coronavirus mean they face losing out on potential trade when lockdown eases.

UKHospitality estimates that shortages are suppressing economic activity in hospitality alone by £22bn - with the pandemic hangover and Brexit adding to an existing problem of finding skilled - and even unskilled - staff.

Hospitality industry blames Brexit for lack of available workers.

Manchester’s hotel bosses are embarking on a recruitment drive to fill the labour gaps created by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.

Overseas bricklayers and carpenters could be able to get work visas more easily in the UK after the government updated its shortage occupation list. / The committee did not recommend any hospitality occupations be included, although it said Brexit and the pandemic had "significant effects" on both sectors.

A HOSPITALITY crisis has beset the Isle of Wight, leaving busy pubs, hotels and restaurants desperately looking for staff.

Hotel and restaurant staff are travelling hundreds of miles to pick up produce as Britain’s lorry driver shortage leaves supplies stranded in warehouses, industry leaders say.

Alf Young, the distinguished Scottish business and economics journalist, writer and broadcaster, is to chair a workshop on 21 October looking at the challenges Scotland’s hospitality and culture sectors face in the wake of Brexit.

Several industries and businesses across the county say they are struggling to recruit following the government's new immigration rules.

A SCOTTISH hotelier has flagged fears in the sector over a fall in visitors from mainland Europe during the crucial summer period – blaming Brexit uncertainty.

A hotel had to close temporarily and lose potential income when there were not enough staff and all over Perth and Kinross there is a big demand for people to take up vacant positions.

It reported that in 2021 business was hit by Covid and Brexit, which damaged consumer confidence, global supply chains, and inflation. And it stressed: “Our outlook for 2023 remains challenging.”

The UK hospitality industry’s labour shortage is set to get ‘significantly worse’ after the cut-off for EU settled status on 30 June, a London law firm has warned.

Coronavirus has masked the true impact of Brexit on the UK hospitality industry. Expect more hotels to bemoan the situation as they attempt to recover from the pandemic.

Tourism faces massive recruitment problems post-lockdown in Devon, forcing many businesses to remain closed for part of the week.

Agent Kerry James Planning said: “In this case, unfortunately, due to the current economic climate, including Brexit and Covid-19, the business, operating as a hotel is no longer viable.

Recruitment gap hitting hotels and restaurants as well as transport, CBI says.

This is all highly ironic as Polizzi was a prominent Leave supporter during the 2016 EU referendum. “I’m like the turkey who voted for Christmas,” she concedes now.

"Overseas workers visas is something we need to be looking at. There's over 200,000 vacancies within hospitality up and down the country."

'It was a difficult decision to take, we have had to cancel hundreds of bookings for every Tuesday with every one fully booked'

A number of hospitality businesses in Eastbourne have said they are struggling to recruit new employees following a ‘perfect storm’ of lockdown and Brexit.