The Government has announced a review of licensing laws in England and Wales aimed at allowing pubs, clubs and restaurants to open later, describing it as a potential boost for the night-time economy.
However, many in the trade argue the move fails to address the underlying financial pressures facing hospitality businesses.
Operators react
JDW founder and chairman Tim Martin commented: “In general, the hospitality industry will welcome flexibility over opening hours, an area where there is too much inconsistency and bureaucracy. However, the grave day-to-day issues faced by the industry relate to excessive taxes and costs, which are pushing up pub and restaurant prices thereby encouraging off-sales and a stay-at-home culture.”
“The answer is simple, although not always well understood by hospitality boardrooms- we need tax parity with supermarkets ie the same vat regime (no vat on food) and the same business rates per pint,” he continued. “All other solutions are short-term sticking plasters, which get lost in complexity and verbiage. If successive governments favour supermarkets, which they have, you ll get successful supermarkets and pubs in crisis - that’s what’s been happening for years!”
Punch Pubs CEO Andy Spencer said: “It’s encouraging to see the Government exploring ways to support growth in our sector. While extended hours may help some pubs, they don’t address the core challenges – rising costs, energy bills, and the cumulative tax burden – that continue to hold the industry back.”
“If we’re serious about unlocking the full potential of Britain’s pubs, we need meaningful support in the Budget that tackles these challenges head-on,” he said.
Star Pubs added: “While we welcome the Government actively exploring changes that could enable pubs to thrive, it’s important that focus is retained on the huge cost increases that have squeezed margins tighter and tighter. We need confirmation of a fairer settlement on business rates, lower tax on beer and a commitment from Government that the cost burdens facing pubs will be reduced.”
Independent publicans have also rejected the idea that later opening hours will make a difference. The Campaign for Pubs said the proposal demonstrates how “little the current Government understands” about the realities facing licensees.
‘Meaningless measures’
Vice chair Dawn Hopkins, licensee of The Rose Pub and Deli in Norwich, said: “Longer opening hours won’t keep pubs open. What we need is real support — lower VAT, help with energy bills and fairer business rates. Around one pub a day is closing, taking staff, small breweries and local suppliers down with it.”
“Instead of meaningless measures creating absurd headlines, the Government needs to wake up to the situation pubs are in and reduce the cost burden on pubs, through a VAT cut, business rates reform and action to bring down energy costs for small businesses,” Hopkins said. “Yet no one ever asks the people actually running pubs — you’d think listening to publicans might be the intelligent place to start.”
Chair Paul Crossman, who runs three pubs in York, said the Government was “plain wrong” to suggest licensing reform could reverse closures.
“The Government is plain wrong if it thinks the woes of the pub and hospitality industry are in any way due to the licensing laws at this point, and it is actually insulting to hard-pressed publicans to see these reforms framed as any kind of solution to the ongoing crisis in the industry.
“In reality the ground level crisis facing pubs and hospitality boils down to a toxic combination of the ever-rising costs involved in running a hospitality business and reduced customer spend amid the ongoing cost of living crisis. That is why in reality most pubs have already curtailed their opening hours, while nightclubs have closed in droves.
Crossman continued: “These are the immediate issues that the Government should focus their attention upon by heeding desperate universal calls for action on VAT, employers NI, energy costs and business rates. We need action in all those areas and more if pubs, nightclubs and wider hospitality are to have any chance of recovering, not a tweak to licensing laws which, in practice, will only likely further benefit off-licences and supermarkets seeking to sell cheap unsupervised alcohol further into the night.”
‘Out of touch’
Lee Worsley of the Coach House Inn, Winterbourne Abbas and the Kings Arms, Portesham, said the proposal “clearly shows how out of touch the government is with hospitality,” calling instead for lower overheads and action to “level up the disparity between off and on trade.” He added that encouraging customers to visit pubs during regular hours “would make a massive difference.”
For David Riley-Cole of The London Hotel, Southampton, “longer hours are not the answer.” He argued the real solutions lie in “reduced tax pubs and increased tax on supermarkets, business rates reduced and PPL/PRS reduced costs,” adding that easing live music rules “increases initial outgoings in itself” rather than addressing low footfall.
Richard Taylor of the Victoria Inn, Colchester, questioned “how the government came to the conclusion that being allowed to open later will be beneficial,” noting that any extra trade would be “swallowed up pretty quickly” by staffing, utility and security costs. He said the industry needs an actual Minister for Hospitality and a cultural shift to “stop supporting supermarkets and go back to supporting pubs.”
At the Eagle Ale House in Battersea, Dave Law highlighted the barriers faced by tied tenants, saying: “When I was Tied I paid hardly any Corporation Tax. When I went Free of Tie under MRO, I paid 11 times that last year because I could actually make a profit. If the Government wants to see growth they should remove the obstructions to MRO, and let Tied Tenants have MRO on demand.”
‘False impression’
Cliff Morton of the Clansman, Corby, described the announcement as “a token gesture to muddy the waters and give a false impression to the public that the Government are helping pubs.” He said alcohol duty reductions are meaningless when “greedy breweries & pubcos put their prices up anyway,” calling for a 10% VAT rate or total removal to help struggling venues.
“It’s pathetic! Let’s stay open longer hours with nobody in!” said Chris Scourfield of The Castle Inn, Pembroke. “Absolutely not what is needed now.”
Similarly, Emma Kirkley of The Longe Arms, Spixworth, said her pub “doesn’t even trade to our current licensing hours,” as trade “dies a death earlier than ever now.” She warned that longer hours would only add to exhaustion and financial strain, stressing that meaningful relief would come from “lowering VAT, sorting out the ridiculous cost of electric and gas” and aligning supermarket and pub prices.
For Mark Edgell of the Dog and Partridge, Yateley, the idea of extending hours “helps no one.” He said publicans already “do 80hrs+ each week” and cannot afford extra staff, chefs or heating costs, calling instead for “a strategy for pub hospitality” with VAT and business rate reform and the abolition of the beer tie.
Karen James of the Severn View Inn, Lydney, was equally firm: “We don’t want longer hours! We want lower utility costs, VAT parity with supermarkets, and employer NICs put back to an affordable level.”
‘More harm than good’
Shaun Tippins, managing director of Tippins Pubs and The Cheese Rollers, Sherrington, said the change “could actually do more harm than good,” warning of increased noise complaints and local tensions. “A big part of running a community pub like ours is building relationships with our neighbours,” he said. “If this law passes, I can see issues escalating without much licensing control or pre-approval.”
“It just demonstrates how out of touch government is to the issue faced by hospitality,” added Glyn Clarke of The Rykneld Turnpyke. “It’s not even complex—it will simply cost us money.”
At The Cock Inn, Potturspurry, Gary Ion called the move a “headline” policy with “no thought to its actual consequence.” He said most pubs are reducing hours, not extending them, and urged the Government to “reduce the stranglehold that pubco have” and address wage and tax pressures that are “crippling” small operators.
Steve Moorman of the Red Lion, Cradley, Herefordshire, agreed that “extra hours will make no difference at all apart from increasing our costs even more.” He added: “Most rural pubs are empty after 9pm. Can’t find staff and acting as an unpaid tax collector for HMRC.”
Publicans say meaningful reform on taxation, energy and business rates would deliver far greater impact than longer trading hours, which many warn would only increase staffing and energy costs for venues already struggling to stay afloat.