Brexit means I can't get the staff, says owner of high-end Notting Hill Italian restaurant

Struggling to recruit: Assaggi in Notting Hill
Jeremy Selwyn
Sebastian Mann18 September 2017

The owner of an Italian restaurant in Notting Hill today claimed he was having to cut opening hours because of the impact of Brexit.

Nino Sassu said it was causing an “acute” staffing crisis and that he had “never seen anything like it” in 21 years running Assaggi.

The 58-year-old restaurateur said two years ago about 20 people were applying for jobs in his kitchen, while today an average of only three went for each role.

The Chepstow Place restaurant, known for its high-end regional Italian cuisine, has a restaurant upstairs and a bar-pizzeria below.

It began serving food downstairs seven days a week earlier this year but has now been forced to close on Mondays.

A notice in the window blames Brexit. Many shops and restaurants in London rely heavily on EU workers. Industry bodies have warned that it could take chains such as Pret A Manger 10 years to replace staff after Brexit.

Earlier this year, the café chain’s human resources director revealed that just one in 50 applicants for new jobs was British. At Assaggi, about 90 per cent of staff are Italian.

Mr Sassu is worried that uncertainty caused by Brexit regarding the rights to remain for EU workers is having a negative impact on staffing. Mr Sassu said: “The bar on the ground floor has been open six or seven months — and there’s been a gradual dwindling in the number of people applying for jobs.

A notice in the window blaming Brexit
Simon Wyatt

“Many European people are literally not coming any more, and the people who are here are leaving.

"Almost every shop and restaurant I see has ‘staff wanted’ in the window. The problem has become acute.” Mr Sassu said at least three of his staff were planning to leave or had already left.

The British Hospitality Association, which represents 180,000 businesses including restaurants, said uncertainty caused by Brexit was putting off skilled workers such as chefs from moving to the UK.

Chief executive Ufi Ibrahim said: “This story of a restaurant in London struggling to recruit staff from Europe and beyond is becoming increasing typical due to Brexit and other factors.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT