As the hospitality sector braces itself for the Autumn Budget, which takes place on Wednesday (26 November), Rice told The Morning Advertiser how key pubs are to the UK and revealed his key asks.
Rice said: “We support what the whole industry is looking for in the Budget. We want the Government to believe in the great British pub.
“It’s the heart of the community, it’s the place where people celebrate, commiserate, it’s where people want to go and we need to ensure that the pub remains at heart of the community and that means freezing beer and cider duty, it means structural business rates reform and it means supporting the industry.”
Rates reform important
Rice explained trading during the past few years has “really challenging” and said it is key the Government recognises the pub and hospitality industry for part it plays in society.
He continued: “We have our Star Pubs estate portfolio and business rates reform is so important for them. We need them to be fair and we need real reform.
2It’s important the Government recognises the important role pubs play, and with the numerous amount of costs being inflicted on the industry in the past 12, 18, 24 months, I don’t think they are really being recognised.
“The pub has to be an affordable place to go and that’s why costs and taxes are so important.”
Maximum possible discount
Earlier this week, UKHospitality (UKH) chair Kate Nicholls told The Morning Advertiser the promise to fix the “broken business rates system” has been long-campaigned for and is looking forward to seeing how the Government implements this.
She said: “All eyes are now on the Budget where we need to see the maximum possible discount applied to the multiplier for all hospitality properties under £500k rateable value.”
She added the result of the 2026 revaluation process will be critical and UKH does expect to see increases on current rateable values, particularly for pubs, but hopes there will be a “generous transitional relief” and that caps on valuation increases reflect that the revaluation compares to April 2021 when the sector was closed during the pandemic.
