In Britain, ‘warm hubs’ emerge to beat soaring energy costs

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, England (AP) — On a blustery late-winter day in Shakespeare's birthplace, the foyer of the Other Place theatre is a cosy refuge.

Visitors are having meetings over coffee, checking emails, writing poetry, learning to sew.

It looks and feels like an arty café in the picturesque streets of Stratford-upon-Avon, but it's a “warm hub” set up by the Royal Shakespeare Company drama troupe to welcome people struggling to heat their homes because of sky-high energy prices.

Warm hubs have sprouted across Britain by the thousands this winter as soaring food and energy prices drive millions to turn down the thermostat or skimp on hot meals.

Research by the opposition Labour Party counted almost 13,000 such hubs, funded by a mix of charities, community groups and the government and nestled in libraries, churches, community centres and even a tearoom at King Charles III's Highgrove country estate.

A perfect storm of Russia's war in Ukraine, lingering pandemic disruption and economic aftershocks of Brexit is putting more people in Britain under financial strain.

Households and businesses were hit especially hard after Russia's invasion of Ukraine drove up the cost of natural gas needed for heating and helped push the UK to the precipice of a recession.

The UK's annual inflation rate was just above 10% in January, with food prices up almost 17% over the year.

Some 62% of adults are using less natural gas or electricity to save money, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A quarter of households regularly run out of money for essentials, pollster Survation found.

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