Have I taken enough cash to break even this month? Can I afford the increase in my business rates bill? Or the heating bill that’s just gone up again…
But there are numbers we need to talk about that are not part of the national debate. For example, ‘million’ and ‘billion’ sound similar if you say them quickly but are worlds apart. To illustrate my point, a million seconds is 11 days while a billion seconds is almost 32 years. Please, stay with me.
A thriving, happy nation means thriving brewers and pubs being able to make a decent living with the ability to invest with confidence in future growth. In many ways, our sector is a barometer for the nation, as a whole.
As the UK wrestles with its role in the new world order, there are things that affect our trade in ways that aren’t always obvious as you pull a pint of cask beer or serve a Sunday lunch.
Outrageous tax disparity
The brewing and pub sector in the UK now pays about 40% of its turnover in tax. Online businesses pay at a fraction of that rate, which is outrageous in itself before you realise that gap will widen further once transitional payments on business rates come to an end.
We have an analogue tax system in a digital age. The promised reform of the anachronistic business rates has simply tinkered round the edges. If the answer is that pubs increase payments at almost five times the rate of Amazon, what on earth was the question? The existence of transitional relief in the first place is surely an admission the system needs a sticking plaster of this type.
To put the whole injustice into context, the UK’s leading online retailer turned over £27bn in 2024 according to The Independent. If it paid tax at the same rate as us, the exchequer would benefit by £10.8bn. The business itself says it pays £1bn. That’s 3.7% of turnover.
Good luck to the online business’s model but it should simply pay its fair share. Until business is taxed on a fairer basis, pubs, brewers and our hard-working employees will still be subsidising those cash-rich tech firms.
At what point do we start to take unified direct action to make our points heard?
Disproportionate energy costs
While on the theme of corporate profiteering, how can it be right that pub business like ours are paying between twice and four times for gas and electricity than is the case in Europe and America? The point hits home when you realise energy companies are making £30bn a year from the UK. That’s £1 a second profit back to the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Where are the checks and balances on our privatised utility companies?
A few hundred words can’t do justice to these sizeable issues with such broad implications. If nothing else, I hope these numbers have inspired a few questions for your next pub quiz!
In the meantime, all I hope for 2026 is a media brave enough to raise these issues as readily as they seek to blame those without a voice for society’s ills and for politicians to help the little guy rather than global corporations.
We live in the fifth richest nation on Earth. There is money about but more of it needs to get to the people who deserve it.
I’m sure we can all raise a glass to that, as we look forward to Christmas.
