Turtle Bay: Founder criticises ‘unhelpful’ Reeves’ tax raid after huge loss
Caribbean restaurant and bar chain Turtle Bay has hit out at the “unhelpful” Labour government whose tax “raid” contributed to it slumping into the red.
The Bristol-headquartered business, which was set up in 2010 by Ajith Jaya-Wickrema and Stephen Entwistle, cited Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ increase in employers’ National Insurance as a reason for it falling to a pre-tax loss of £10.1m for the year to 30 March, 2025.
The loss comes after the business posted a pre-tax profit of £1.8m in the prior 12 months.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show turnover at Turtle Bay, which is backed by private equity firm Piper, fell from £93.6m to £84.3m during its latest financial year.
Turtle Bay founder warns on costs
In a statement signed off by the board, Turtle Bay co-founder Ajith Jayawickrema said: “Competition remains fierce with new entrants into the sector at an increasing rate.
“Supplier costs are increasing through uncertainty in the markets and British energy prices remain some of the highest in the world.
“To date [the accounts were signed off in September 2025 but published today] the new Labour government has been unhelpful with their raid on employers’ National Insurance.
“The hospitality sector provides around three million people with employment and trains key life skills.
“Our sector has been one of the worst impacted by the change.”
The Turtle Bay co-founder will since been cheered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves permanently lowering business rates for more than 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England from April 2026 in her Budget last year.
Jayawickrema added: “With these headwinds, our results this year are lower than we expected.
“We remain ahead of our pre-pandemic sales, something many are not.”
During the year, Turtle Bay closed three loss-making sites while it downgraded the value of its portfolio, recognising an impairment charge of £5.4m and an increase to the onerous lease provision of £900,000.