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13
Jan
Harrogate landlord-turned-councillor calls for action to prevent further pub closures
A Green Party councillor in Harrogate is calling on North Yorkshire Council to use its powers to support pubs and hospitality businesses through difficult times.
Cllr Mike Schofield cautions that recent pub closures across the region risk hollowing out communities unless action is taken.
His warning comes at a time when the industry is shrinking fast – it is estimated that nationally at least one pub closes permanently every day.
Cllr Schofield has first-hand experience of the challenges of the hospitality sector – he was landlord of the Shepherd's Dog pub on Harlow Hill in Harrogate until June last year, when it went into liquidation and closed due to rapidly rising costs.
Cllr Schofield, who represents the Harlow and St George's division, said:
We’re seeing pubs disappear not because communities don’t value them, but because the system is stacked against them.
Pubs are social infrastructure – they’re meeting places, support networks and often the last remaining community space in a village or neighbourhood. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.
Closed: The Black Swan. Photo: Star Pubs.
The hospitality industry has come under increasing pressure in recent years from business rates, rising employment costs, and planning pressures.
Although many of these challenges are driven by national policy, local authorities still have powers that can alleviate the strain.
What he is calling for
Cllr Schofield said North Yorkshire Council should act immediately to use tools already within its control – including business rates relief, planning policy and licensing practice to – and prevent further closures.
He is calling for:
- targeted discretionary business rates relief for community and rural pubs;
- stronger planning protections to resist unnecessary loss of pubs;
- proportionate, supportive licensing that helps venues operate sustainably;
- recognition of pubs as part of the county’s social and economic infrastructure.
Cllr Schofield also stressed that pubs are part of a wider hospitality ecosystem that underpins town-centre vitality, tourism and employment across North Yorkshire.
He said:
Obviously, we’re looking forward to hearing what the Government’s u-turn on the planned 76% business rates hike for pubs will look like – but even with that support, there are things that we as a council can do to support the sector.
The council can’t change VAT or alcohol duty, but it can choose whether it quietly manages decline or actively supports local pubs and hospitality businesses.
That means targeted rates relief, stronger planning protection, fair licensing, and backing community ownership where pubs are under threat.
Cllr Schofield's former pub, the Shepherd's Dog, has still not reopened eight months after it closed. But Harlow Hill is not the only community to have lost its local – the Black Swan in Burn Bridge shut its doors just days after the Shepherd's Dog and has also not yet reopened.
Cllr Schofield added:
When hospitality suffers, town centres suffer. Jobs are lost, streets go dark earlier, and places feel less safe and less alive.
Supporting hospitality isn’t a niche issue – it’s about jobs, and the future of our high streets and communities.
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