For pubs and restaurants hoping to save money and stay afloat in the face of a record squeeze on disposable incomes, there is now a new normal: younger staff, simpler menus, less meat and closing for lunch.

Since the onset of the pandemic the sector has been hit by skyrocketing energy costs, food inflation, high interest rates, a recruitment crisis and consumer uncertainty.

The latest insolvency data shows the impact of those pressures: restaurants closed at their highest rate in a decade in the first three months of this year, according to figures from the accountancy firm Price Bailey.

So how are restaurant and bar owners adjusting?

Vivek Singh owns the Cinnamon Club, an Indian fine dining restaurant in the heart of Westminster that is popular with political types, along with three other mid-priced eateries dotted around central London.

To save money, Singh took the unusual step of removing one of the most popular dishes from the menu. Butter chicken is a rich, unctuous dish and a favourite with customers, but it contains tomatoes, which have steeply risen in price and are subject to shortages that have been blamed on bad weather in southern Europe and north Africa.