Owner of family-run business Barr & Barr Hospitality, Rob Barr, has penned an open letter to MP for Arundel & South Downs Andrew Griffith and MP for South Dorset Lloyd Hatton, calling for a “powerful voice” in support of the great British pub.
Barr, who operates three pubs across West Sussex and Dorset: the award-winning Onslow Arms in Loxwood, the Red Lion in Winfrith, and the newly acquired White Hart in Henfield, shared the letter to the company’s social media.
He called for the Government to deliver meaningful business rates reformation and reverse the National Insurance Contribution increases for employers in hospitality and retail.
In addition, the operate urged the Government to create a fairer VAT system to level the playing field for pubs against supermarkets.
Great institutions
The open letter said: “We are all merely custodians in these great establishment’s history. No Government has the right not to support these great institutions and what they bring both to the local and national economies.
“Standing through world wars, times of great depression, inflation and recessions steadfastly and unquestionably.
“We part the way for AI, Amazon, Starbucks, which have not a scratch on the time our pubs have stood. Are these businesses really providing meals for the local elderly or the disadvantaged?
“We support local communities, local people, who you represent, local schools and feed into the fabric that is Britain. I’m lobbying for a voice, a powerful voice, in our great country to support us.”
The post continued: “All we need is a fair chance, and with that chance the industry will pay the great British people back in spades, we always have done.”
Backbone of economy
In a separate open letter sent to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Barr said the sector was in desperate need of a voice within the House of Commons.
The letter to the Chancellor said: “For too long we have been undervalued and unappreciated by this Government, and it has to stop here.”
It comes as a recent survey from the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) showed a third of pubs were at risk without targeted support in the upcoming autumn Budget.
Barr’s plea to Reeves continued: “These businesses provide the backbone to our economy, they provide jobs for people in the local community, they provide jobs to our youth to help build confidence and learn valuable life skills but above all else they are part of British culture.
“Our pubs have stood for hundreds of years and yet this Government clearly sees us as irrelevant to the growth and fabric of the economy and our culture.”
