This came as the group posted its financial results for the 26 weeks to 27 September 2025, which it said was a “strong first half with continuing momentum”.
In the update, Emeny said he was frustrated by the “lack of a clear plan to deliver the growth the Chancellor claims to be seeking”.
He also called for new ideas and thinking to drive sustainable economic success quickly.
The pub group boss told The Morning Advertiser: “There’s no way business can take any further tax burden.
“My hope would be there are some fresh ideas about growth because you can’t tax your way to victory and what we need to do is stimulate some economic investment and economic growth. That’s what I’m looking for more than anything.
“What they’ve been touting is there are further tax increases to come but sooner or later, you’re going to have to find ways of employing people and growing the economy and with unemployment going up, there are some very worrying signals for the Government.
“You couldn’t run a company like this.”
Company investment
Elsewhere in the report, it was revealed the company had planed capex of £15m earmarked for the second half of its financial year.
Emeny outlined plans to The Morning Advertiser as to how that investment had been utilised this year and the focus going forward.
He said: “It’s probably going to be in quarter four. We don’t like closing pubs this time of year so we take the opportunity during what are the quietest months of the year to do them - January and February - and that sets us up well for the new financial year.
“A lot of the focus this year has been on our pubs with rooms business, which has paid back well.”
Preparing for events and celebratory seasons is just one way Fuller’s “outperforming the market”, Emeny stated.
Market share growth
He said: “There’s no doubt the sector is becoming more events driven so when you have a period like Christmas, you have to make sure you invest in your menu development, your packages offered to customers, pre-booking sales engines and things like that, we are getting better and better at that and curate a really good programme of all year round events that bring customer into our pubs.
“That is absolutely essential.
“This week we are celebrating our 180th birthday, that will generate some extra footfall for us.”
This is helped partly by pubs being located in affluent areas alongside investment in the sites themselves, in its food offer and its teams.
“All that ladders together to mean your pubs are really great places. The luxury we have is not consistent across the sector because some companies can’t afford to refurbish their pubs unfortunately, but that helps us grow market share,” Emeny said.
“There isn’t one thing we do, there are consistently about seven or eight things we have got better and better at including digital marketing and these things seem to work very well with our customers.”
Furthermore on the festive period, the update showed Christmas bookings were up 16% on the comparable period last year.
Emeny highlighted why this strong performance has been the case this year, he said: “We have learned a lot as a business over the past four or five years, what people want at Christmas, what the price point is going to be, what the offer needs to be and it’s that constant refinement and continuous improvement until we’ve got the offer right.”
