The owner of a Suffolk gastropub named best in the UK by a top food guide has warned pubs are facing an "existential crisis" as they grapple with spiralling energy costs.

Brendan Padfield, who runs The Unruly Pig at Bromeswell, near Woodbridge, said publicans were facing an average 300% rise in energy bills, which could drive as many as 10,000 businesses to the wall.

One landlord has reported that his energy bill has risen from £13,000 a year to £35,000 a year.

Mr Padfield, whose pub was number one in a top 50 guide by brewer Estrella Damm, called for a reduction in VAT for the hospitality sector from the current 20%, along with a holiday for pubs from paying business rates.

He feared the problems with rocketing energy bills would be compounded by customers deciding not to eat out as they tried to trim their own budgets to be able to afford to heat their homes.

He added: “The first thing to suffer in any recession is discretionary spending and this looks to be the worst one ever. The first thing to struggle is always the discretionary spend and discretionary spending is always leisure and pubs.”

He said pubs could adopt the same measures as domestic properties, such as improving insulation and turning down the thermostat, but these steps were unlikely to make a difference and customers did not want to sit in cold premises.

“There are even instances within hospitality where energy providers are refusing to quote for pubs because they see them as a high risk for non-payment,” Mr Padfield added.

Last week, energy regulator Ofgem announced the price cap for household energy bills would rise by 80% to £3,549 on October 1.

However, unlike households, businesses are not covered by a regulated energy price cap meaning bills can rise even higher.

“We are asking for a reduction in VAT and a business rates holiday. These are the key things that would matter and would help us.

“This is an existential crisis for the pub,” Mr Padfield said.