Tom Kerridge has urged people to visit their local pubs more regularly, instead of 'just for Sunday lunch' as economic concerns continue to rock the hospitality industry.

In an article penned for this month's Delicious magazine, celebrity chef Tom Kerridge wrote that going to a pub just once a week for a Sunday roast was "not enough" to save beloved local boozers amid rising costs.

He urged pubgoers to regularly visit their locals in an effort to help them weather the difficult economic conditions facing the hospitality industry.

"You might think it's ok because the pub around the corner is still there - but that pub is up against it.

"You have to use it for more than Sunday lunch - it's somebody's business and part of a much bigger picture."

Kerridge has previously been vocal about the challenges facing his three Buckinghamshire pubs, one of which, The Hand and Flowers, is the only twice-Michelin-starred pub in the UK.

He focused on the threats facing the industry in his BBC 2 TV series, 'The Hidden World of Hospitality with Tom Kerridge', which aired on the channel over the summer. 

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Speaking to PA ahead of the first episode, Kerridge said he was grateful to have the chance to shed light not only on the increased energy bills and food inflation challenges that many businesses were dealing with but also on the necessity of raising prices to ensure staff were protected amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

"It isn't just about the value of an ingredient that you can buy from a supermarket and cook at home. That's what's always thrown at restaurants and hospitality people when they talk about the price of stuff.

"Hospitality is about creating an environment and a space and a place for people to release and enjoy themselves... There is a value to that.

"People who are serving, people who are clearing plates, people who are cooking, people who are washing up, people who are answering the telephone - and the only way you make money (for them) is by selling a piece of sea bass or some chips, you know? That's how it gets paid for."

It comes after a spokesperson for The Hand and Flowers confirmed that the price of the pub's three-course a la carte menu had been raised from £155 to £175 in the wake of "huge rises in the cost of food and ingredients as well as energy, wage and rent increases".

They added that the cost-of-living crisis had "hit hospitality hard", necessitating "difficult pricing decisions" to ensure the "future success of the business".