Two more nurseries to close due to the cost-of-living crisis

excluSive

By Herbie Russell herbie@southwarknews.co.uk

TwO BOrOUgh nurseries have been forced to close due to the cost-ofliving crisis.

Banana Moon nursery, on Trundle Street, closed on February 2 after the business “became unsustainable”.

In a letter to parents, the nursery said that rising operational costs and fewer families being able to afford professional child care were to blame.

Mark Bates, managing director of the Banana Moon franchise, said: “Unfortunately, business at Banana Moon Southwark became unsustainable and the nursery has had to make the difficult decision to close its doors.”

The News understands that Bright Horizons nursery, streets away on Tabard Street, made the decision to close this year due to rising costs too.

Last August, the National Day Nurseries Association warned that nurseries had endured a “disastrous” year. From April to July 2022, 65 per cent more nurseries closed compared with the same months in 2021, it said.

Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of the NDNA, said: “Most nurseries are small businesses and, similar to the picture in other sectors, these are hugely impacted by rocketing fuel costs, inflation and chronic underfunding. But nurseries have also had to pay unfair business rates which tax the space they give children to grow, explore and develop. We are expecting minimum wages to go up again as low paid workers grapple with inflation in double figures. Meanwhile qualified early years practitioners are leaving the sector to take up better paid work elsewhere, leaving nurseries struggling to recruit.”

“All nurseries’ challenges can be sourced back to government policy, offering parents so-called ‘free’ childcare places, then paying only part of the cost of delivering them. If your biggest customer isn’t paying the going rate that makes it difficult to survive.”

Earlier this month, 1st Place nursery in Cambridge House, Camberwell, almost closed permanently after it failed to reach a new lease agreement with its landlord EatWorkArt. Parents were locked out of the premises before EatWorkArt reopened them, saying it recognised “the upset” caused by the “temporary unavoidable closure”.

The 1st Place nursery is still expected to close in the coming months.