"We held out as long as we could."

  The Bear Paw Deli, of which there are three in Wicklow, have made an announcement to their customers as they've been forced to raise their prices. The owner, Claire, who trained at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, reveals that they held off on this decision for as long as possible. Their Instagram caption read as follows:

"Today in the delis you may notice a small increase on some of our prices. It's with a heavy heart we have done this, we held out as long as we could. Obviously it has been well reported the struggles facing small businesses at the moment, and we are no different. My promise to you, our customers, is I will keep the increases as low as I can."

The deli is apologetic for having to raise prices, but reminds customers of their high quality produce, saying:

"We use real butter, Belgian chocolate, Irish meat and pay all our staff a fair rate. Integrity is the most important thing to me and I will stand over my business and our products."

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cihe6DesIth/   In recent times there has been an influx of Irish cafés sharing astronomical electricity bills, with the Riverside Park Hotel in Wexford recently receiving one of €71k for just one month. It's an unfortunate fact that we are likely to see more announcements like Bear Paw Deli's in the coming weeks and months. Header image via Instagram/thebearpawdeli READ ON: Wexford hotel receives energy bill of over €70k for one month