Business rates revaluation 'a fine for being good at your job'

Rob Scahill, who runs the Orange Tree, Baldock, Hertfordshire, voiced his frustration after research published last week revealed that London pubs would be among the hardest hit when the new rates come into force next April.

The Greene King tenant said he had poured "six years of everything he had" into the pub, which dates back to 1680 and employs 30 people, and had built it up "from certain closure" only to be hit with a 135% business rates increase.

“It really is a smack in the face,” Scahill told The Morning Advertiser​. “It’s soul destroying. You take a pub that’s knackered, you build it up into a community pub, one that people travel from all over Hertfordshire to visit for the ales and food, it’s a blistering success, CAMRA 2015 pub of the year for the county and this is what you get.

'No pay for five years'​

“​I’ve worked so hard on this place. I haven’t been paid for five years because all the money that we’ve earned we’ve reinvested in the pub.”

He added the revised rates would also force up other bills like insurance and Sky TV subscriptions.

Another Baldock-based pub, the Boot, has seen its rateable value rise by 100%.

Licensee Tom Curran said: “I think it’s absolutely disgraceful. Looking to the future I can’t see pubs like ours surviving. The rates need to be revalued pretty sharpish and give pubs like ours a fighting chance of staying open.”

Sharp increases​

Ben Peers, a chartered surveyor at Fleurets said rateable values were linked to the trade performance of a pub.

“Unfortunately, we are hearing of an increasing number of concerned operators facing the possibility of sharp increases to their rates bills next year,” he said.

“The 2017 ratings list is looking to be problematic especially for those operators that have taken on historically poor performing pubs, invested a lot into the business resulting in significantly improved trade levels.

“We are also now seeing the harsh consequences of a revaluation that should have been in implemented in 2015. This delay has been for a duration of two years where there has been significant growth in the pub sector.”