Aberdeen residents have been making their voices heard over the unexpected plans to close down the Royal Crown Chinese takeaway in Torry after it was hit with an unbelievable £10,000 gas bill.
Martin Tang’s family have owned the takeaway for almost 50 years, but he now says he is now being forced to close due to rising fuel costs.
His per quarter gas bill rose from £1,000 to more than £10,000, and his electricity bill from £1,300 to over £5,000.
He said: “It was just so unbelievable, how can they justify that?
“It’s just not workable for me as a small business, I am going to have to close down the shop altogether.”
One of Mr Tang’s employees, Natalie Hood, was the one who first posted on social media that the business may have to close after the eyewatering gas bill came through the post.
She wrote: “Arrived at work tonight to be told ‘we might have to shut the shop’, this would be tragic.”
Arrived at work tonight to be told “we might have to shut the shop” last week the electric bill came in 10 x dearer today the gas came in, from £900 to £10,058.59 it’s a small family run business here since 1982 this would be tragic! 😢 #fuelcrisis #Aberdeen pic.twitter.com/9loDOo3jRp
— Natalie Hood (@NatalieAHood) August 6, 2022
Massive community response to support Royal Crown
The community response at the prospect of losing Mr Tang’s family business has been massive.
The busy and popular shop in Torry has a loyal customer base, and does not use Just Eat or Deliveroo.
The takeaway currently has 4.7 stars out of five on Google reviews – one of Aberdeen’s highest rankings.
On the Evening Express Facebook post, James Henderson wrote: “Mr Tang please reconsider your decision, the world is truly a better place with this establishment open.
“The Torry community will no longer be able to function on weekends without the royal crown as a hangover cure.”
Graeme Anderson wrote: “Seriously the best Chinese in Aberdeen. I do hope Martin can work something out with the energy companies.”
Jayden McGregor wrote: “Someone should make a Go Fund Me page.”
Are energy companies making too much profit?
Other commentators were shocked by the amount Mr Tang had been charged by his energy company SSE.
Unlike individual homeowners, small businesses are not covered by the energy price cap that is put in place by Ofgem.
In May, SSE reported profits £1.5bn, up 15% from the previous year.
John Lind wrote: “Be cheaper running a generator at that price.”
Herbie Bain wrote: “Such a disgusting world we live in all the high earning businesses are robbing us normal people of our small businesses and making fortunes at petrol stations and everything else!”
Rob Sayers wrote: “The profiteering by the energy companies is absolutely abhorrent. They can keep blaming wars when shareholders are taking billions.
SSE investigating this issue
In a statement today, SSE said: “We can confirm our customer services team have spoken to the customer to advise him that we are investigating this issue.
“They will be following up with him again later today.”
‘How can they justify that?’
Aberdeen Chinese takeaway to close after fuel prices soar to more than £10,000 a quarter
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