The headlines across national media blaring “pub bail out” is infuriating - pubs weren’t and aren’t asking to be bailed out, we were demanding fairer taxation - and if not that, taxation that didn’t bring us to the brink of annihilation.
So the Government stepping back from the cliff edge and, sort of, fixing the immediate issue is good news for a large majority of pubs.
Admittedly, those with a rateable value of over £100,000 will once again be wondering why they work to make their business a success, but at lease the increase has been cut and frozen, so those swingeing rise in bills over the next three years are off the table, and gives them short term clarity.
But again, before the Government pats itself on the back on what they think is a job well done, there’s still more to be done.
The valuation process needs to be root and branch reformed to avoid problems like this in the future and to ensure this package is not just a sticking plaster.
There’s been muttered promises of reform before the next Budget, but to be fair, I also seem to recall a manifesto promise before the last election, so I’m not holding my breath.
Relief was not just Covid based
Also, the point that seems to have been forgotten in all of this talk of “rolling back Covid relief” on business rates is - the relief wasn’t applied as a Covid solution (and hat tip to Ryan Tax for making a point a lot of us had missed), rates relief started in 2018 to address issues on the high street and hospitality sector.
Covid saw the relief increased, not introduced, so to frame this as a Covid measure that needs to go, misses the point entirely and withdraws support that was needed in 2018 and is very much still needed in 2026.
And let’s not forget wider hospitality, which appears to have been left in the cold on this current U-turn. Pubs do not exist in a vacuum, so to deny hotels, restaurants and cafes a similar fix is once again short-sighted and ignorant by the Chancellor and her team - so I look forward to the next U-turn asap.
And of course, let’s not forget that the announcement by the Government does nothing to solve the wider underlying problems, again, many of their own creation.
Back to the start
The business rates package only puts us back to the position we were in pre-budget, in which the industry was clamouring for tax change - not tax status quo.
This Government has made the cost of employment and doing business prohibitively more expensive, while at the same time claiming to be pro-business and wanting to grow the economy.
Doing one thing, while saying another.
So, we need to keep the pressure on, we need to not step away from the battlements and we need to keep fighting until we can see a fairer share of the tax burden for hospitality, one that allows this industry to fly and thrive, and help grow that economy our Government seems hell bent on breaking.
