Kate Nicholls
This archive features our reporting on Kate Nicholls OBE — a key voice in the UK’s hospitality and foodservice policy landscape. As Chair of UKHospitality, Nicholls plays a central role in lobbying government, shaping regulation, and influencing the commercial environment in which restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and catering firms operate. Catering Today covers Nicholls’ statements, policy positions, and leadership activity because her work directly affects the trading conditions, labour challenges, and long-term resilience of foodservice businesses. For operators navigating rising costs, staffing pressures, or post-pandemic recovery, her advocacy and insights are both timely and consequential.
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Nov- 2022 -7 NovemberTrade Associations
UKH calls for urgent investigation into energy suppliers’ pricing
UKH chief executive Kate Nicholls has written to the Business Secretary Grant Shapps urging him to instigate an investigation by Ofgem and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) into energy pricing for commercial businesses. UKH said it comes as hospitality businesses have “raised the alarm that energy suppliers are quoting…
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1 NovemberRegulations & Policies
UKH calls for Liverpool City Council to scrap late night levy
UKHospitality has urged Liverpool City Council to remove its late night levy, warning that continuing to collect the levy alongside additional pressures could lead to closures, discourage new openings and impact on employment in the city. According to the trade body, during the time they have been in operation, levies…
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Oct- 2022 -20 OctoberBusiness
Hospitality loses 2,200 sites in three months amid cost challenges
Britain’s hospitality sector saw a net decline of one closure every hour in the third quarter of 2022, including pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes and hotels, according to the latest Hospitality Market Monitor from CGA and AlixPartners. The closures over the last quarter follow a “sharp rise” in prices in energy,…
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19 OctoberBusiness
Rising food prices push inflation back to 10.1%
Inflation has returned to the 40-year high of 10.1% in September, up from 9.9% in August, with rising food prices as the main contributor, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The increase to the annual inflation rate in September 2022 reflected, principally, rising food…
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13 OctoberTrade Associations
UKH launches net zero Sustainability Programme
UKHospitality (UKH) has launched a new Sustainability Programme aimed at guiding the sector to net zero by 2040. The commitment sets out 10 pledges in four areas – waste, supply chain, skills and biodiversity. The initiative forms part of a wider drive to help businesses, especially small and medium enterprises…
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12 OctoberGovernment
UKH welcomes Energy Prices Bill
UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls has welcomed the Government’s new Energy Prices Bill adding that it will provide “relief to all manner of hospitality businesses”. Under the new bill, consumers will pay a fairer price for their electricity as the UK government introduces new emergency powers that will ensure consumers…
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Sep- 2022 -16 SeptemberEducation
Hospitality sector calls for Hospitality Apprenticeships Week support
Hospitality trade bodies, charities and training providers have united to help promote Hospitality Apprenticeships Week 2022, calling on the wider industry to support the initiative. Hospitality Apprenticeships Week, which is set to run between 3 and 9 October, aims to showcase the “unique and diverse” career pathways that the sector…
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8 SeptemberBusiness
UKH calls for action as 1 in 5 businesses warn of collapse
UKHospitality has called on the government for increased support as a new survey has found that one in five hospitality businesses saying they will not survive the current crisis, while three in five operators admitted they are no longer profitable. The findings come from a recent survey of hospitality operators,…
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5 SeptemberTrade Associations
UKH urges new PM to ‘act quickly and decisively’ to save sector
UKHospitality has urged the new prime minister to act “quickly and decisively” in order to save the sector in the face of increasing costs due to the energy crisis. The news comes as Liz Truss was confirmed as the new prime minister after beating former chancellor Rishi Sunak in the…
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Aug- 2022 -16 AugustPubs and Bars
Hospitality bodies call for ‘urgent action’ on pub staff shortages
“Urgent action” is needed on staff shortages in pubs amid new employment figures being released, according to Hospitality bodies BBPA and UKH. In the latest figures, The ONS found that the number of job vacancies dropped for the first time since 2020, falling to 1.274 million, a decrease of 19,800…
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