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28
Jan
Government rates relief fails to raise a cheer from district's pub owners
The government's announcement yesterday (January 27) of 15% rates relief for pubs and live music venues has received a lukewarm response from local publicans.
Many in the sector had been bracing themselves for April, when rates bills are expected to jump sharply.
This week’s announcement means the impact of any rises will be blunted for many licensed premises, which will also see their bills frozen in real terms for the next two years.
But some in the industry say the measure does not go far enough. Simon Wade, who owns four pubs in the Boroughbridge area, said:
The government are making decisions we can’t possibly sustain. It’s completely and utterly wrong.
It’s like me saying ‘I’ll sell you a pint for £5. No – I lied – it’s £10. But now I’ll give you a discount of £1.50.’ You’re still paying £3.50 more than you were!
It’s a little discount to make people feel better, but not one person appears to have picked up a calculator and done the maths properly.
Simon Wade
He said that the rateable value for one of his pubs, the Grantham Arms, had been recalculated from £19,000 in 2023 to £87,000 for the coming year – a 358% increase.
That has seen the pub's annual rates bill leap from £5,688 in 2025 to £10,903 in 2026 – reduced to £9,267 after the newly announced 15% relief – giving a total bill increase of 63%.
Mr Wade said:
It seems they want to eradicate the industry and make people jobless. Why? There’s no reason for it at all.
Rates bills are set to rise in April in part because rateable values, which are set by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and used to calculate rates, have leapt following their three-yearly recalculation.
The VOA has confirmed that more than 5,000 pubs have seen their rateable values increase by up to 100%.
The government has also withdrawn a number of covid-era reliefs that many businesses have been relying on.
'We need fair and consistent valuations'
Jay Smith, who owns Montey’s bar on the Ginnel in Harrogate, took a measured line on the rate subsidy, but said the underlying system still needed an overhaul. He told us:
The government’s announcement helps in the short term because it caps how fast our bill can rise and gives pubs a temporary discount, so we won’t be hit with the full increase all at once from April.
But our valuation is still going up, and that feeds into future bills, so it doesn’t fix the underlying problem.
What we really need is fair and consistent valuations and a system that small independent businesses can realistically challenge without it becoming expensive and complex. Short-term relief helps cashflow, but long-term sustainability comes down to getting the valuation right in the first place.
Jay Smith, owner of Montey's.
Jobs 'could be at risk'
The 15% relief for pubs and live music venues follows controversy over the VOA’s increases in rateable values and the government’s scrapping of other reliefs. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) had said that 15,000 jobs could be at risk, and that the Chancellor’s autumn Budget had “left publicans petrified”. The body had called for rates relief of 30% for pubs – twice as generous as the rate announced this week.
Responding to the latest announcement, Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the BBPA, said:
We are pleased the government has listened to our concerns, and those of publicans, consumers and MPs who rallied to defend our locals. This pub-specific package will stave off the immediate financial threat posed by accelerating business costs and will help keep the doors open for many.
This additional support will provide certainty for tens of thousands of pubs, with many seeing their bills frozen or falling and there will be a sigh of relief from landlords across the country.
She added that the BBPA would work with the government on plans for permanent business rates reform.
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