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The owner of a bakery in Manchester has urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham to give the hospitality industry a 'fighting chance' as it struggles to keep up with increasing prices.

Barbakan Deli is an artisan bakery and deli in Chorlton that has been at the heart of the community for the last 62 years. However, it is struggling to keep up with its bills, despite turning over more than £2.3m a year.

In an open letter to the prime minister, owner Frankie Dyer said there is "nowhere left to squeeze" and asked for independent businesses to be considered in the upcoming Budget.

A Treasury spokesperson said decisions on tax are "a matter for the Chancellor to set out at fiscal events".

In the letter, which has since been widely seen by nearly a million people online, Dyer wrote: "Since Covid, independent businesses like ours have dragged ourselves through crisis after crisis."

"Energy prices. Fuel costs. Food shortages. Inflation. Increasing wages. Pension contributions. Corporation Tax at 25%. Business rates. And then the enormous additional cost of the increase in Employer National Insurance."

She said she had been doing "everything" Burnham had asked businesses to do, but had "no reserves left".

"It doesn't matter how much turnover you make, if the taxes outweigh what you're bringing in and retaining, you are going to end up with a negative bank balance, no matter how big or small you are," she added.

In the Budget next month, the bakery owner said she hopes to see changes in VAT, business rates and national insurance contributions to the employer, to help support businesses and boost growth.

Without support, she said she feared the more than 6,000 business owners who had been in touch after reading her letter "won't make it until Christmas".

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• • Published27 January