OPINION: Retailers can only cope with so much new legislation – Pete Cheema, chief executive, SGF

There is a line from a song where the lyrics are that “nothing changes on New Year’s Day”, and unfortunately for businesses up and down the UK, that feeling will remain significantly longer – the UK is in an economic recession. 

Convenience retailing businesses have been – and continue to be – confronted with an exceptionally challenging environment. This is characterised by being exposed to soaring energy costs, rising inflation, rising interest rates, a cost-of-living crisis, the implications of Brexit, the war in Ukraine and the impact this has had on the supply chain and cost of sourcing products, not to mention the pending increase in the National Minimum Wage.