Jim Parker: For Keith's sake we must ensure Torbay's voice is heard

Pop into the Grand Hotel any lunchtime and you will more often than not see owner Keith Richardson sat in an armchair eating his apple and cheese. It is a ritual the 86-year-old businessman believes does actually keep the doctor away.
Mind you, how much longer the outspoken hotelier can keep going is the million dollar question —
although, thankfully, it has nothing to do with his age or health.
The thing that is causing him the most stress is the ‘Draconian’ measures coming down the line from the power-brokers in Westminster.
He dare not think about the extra hundreds of thousands of pounds being added to his staff costs after an ordered increase in employer’s National Insurance contributions and minimum wage levels.
I was talking to another large employer the other day and he is having to find an extra million pounds this year. How? Not rocket science, the customers will pay the price in increased prices or he will go bust!
Keith’s hotel group — Richardson Hotels — has shrunk for a variety of reasons in recent years.
He has three left, his cherished Grand on Torquay seafront, the Abbey Sands in Belgrave Road and the Royal Beacon in Exmouth.
The Grand is open and ‘doing OK’ but the Abbey Sands and the Royal Beacon have been closed. The Abbey Sands should be opening soon and Keith has plans to eventually turn the Royal Beacon into apartments.
Keith, who employs up to 140 across the group, says: “We have one hotel open at the moment, and that is Grand. Abbey Sands was up for sale. That is still up in the air. There is a lady interested, it is just a slow process. The Beacon flats scheme will take a couple of years if we get planning.”
He describes what is being called the ‘jobs tax’ measures being introduced by the Labour government and Chancellor Rachel Reeves as ‘Draconian’.
He says: “It is disgusting. We are just working out the increase. It is significant — our income is not going up by that much. It is a double whammy. Things are not as good as they should be. One hotel has been forced to offer £45 for a night. Prices go up and down. It all depends on the supply. It is called dynamic pricing. But it has not been good since Covid. The government has messed us up. It is a tsunami of cost. It is awful. Everything is going up.”
Will he ever sell the Grand, which is his pride and joy?
He says: “I am happy with the Grand but it’s tough. If you do not make the money in the summer, you cannot survive the winter. We just hope the visitors keep coming in. The world is a mess. We have new hotels in the Bay to increase the supply which do not do us any good. We are in really difficult times. It is very serious.”
So, who is fighting Keith Richardson’s corner?
As a non-executive director I am biased, but I believe the English Riviera BID Company does an excellent job protecting, promoting and representing the Bay’s tourism and hospitality sector which, don't forget, is worth £400 million a year. A new Devon-wide tourism partnership is also doing its bit and best.
But what about the voice of tourism and the Bay generally in those corridors of power in Westminster?
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey was in town recently when he called on the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to host an urgent South West tourism summit to address the impact of National Insurance tax hikes and the cost of living crisis on the industry.
On his last visit to Devon, Davey called for the hospitality industry to be exempt from the NICs hike, as research by the Liberal Democrats revealed that hospitality businesses across the South West are estimated to see a £75 million hike in their tax bill for the 2025-26 financial year, rising to around £80 million in 2029-30.
Torbay’s very own MP Steve Darling also invited the Prime Minister to visit Paignton Zoo to see and hear for himself the damage being inflicted on our tourism industry.
Both calls fell on deaf ears. Is that a sign of the times as Torbay is in danger of being squeezed out in the current local government reorganisation programme?
The Lib Dems notched a ‘startling’ result in the Devon County Council elections and now have the most number of seats, although not yet overall control — that is bound to come with an expected coalition perhaps with the Greens? As Reform came to the fore, the Tories took a bashing and Labour was wiped out.
What impact will that have on the Bay in a new local government restructure? Will a Labour government now focus on looking after Plymouth, where it has a cabinet Minister, and Exeter, where it has had an MP for two decades in any new shake-up — possibly weakening the Bay’s position?
A combined county authority, with Devon Tories originally at the table, has just been formed. Lib Dems will now join the party. Where does that leave Torbay and its voice?
Steve Darling described the county council elections result as ‘startling’.
He says: “It is fascinating that Labour was completely wiped out and the Tories are only something like 15 per cent on what they used to have at County Hall with Reform having an impact on doing for the Tories.”
Of the new Devon leadership, he says: “I am hoping that it will lead to greater engagement with others.
“We now have Julian Brazil as leader — look at what he has done in the South Hams where he has included all parties in positions. He seems to be a lot more inclusive and a lot more listening. I am quite optimistic.
“It is all to play for. The danger is Torbay gets watered down by a merger, but it is about building relations. I have reached out and wished people well. That is building these bridges but these are people already on my Christmas card list.”
He adds: “Torbay is part of Devon. There are similar issues where we need to be working together and I’m looking forward to a more open and inclusive approach.”
Former Torbay MP Kevin Foster said his fear was that the government would ‘do what it wants to do’ — making sure it looked after its political interests in Plymouth and Exeter. Uncertainty abounds, but one thing is for sure. We all need to make sure that Torbay’s voice is not drowned out in all this political see-sawing.
Politics is ultimately about people and people’s lives. People like Keith Richardson at the Grand Hotel.
We need to fight his corner and that of many others with a united front now more than ever.