Under HMRC guidance for the 2026 revaluation, officials are told to consider factors including location, outdoor trading space, car parks, playgrounds, character properties and premium food offers when calculating a pub’s rateable value.
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Nearly 40,000 pubs across England and Wales are currently going through a revaluation process, which determines how much they will pay in business rates.
The process assigns a rateable value to each pub, based on its estimated worth as a business, before a government set multiplier is applied to calculate the final bill.
Penalised on location
According to the guidance, pubs in “attractive locations”, including those with river frontage or views, could fall into higher valuation levels.
Sites with substantial outdoor trading facilities, strong food offers, letting rooms, good parking or limited local competition may also be assessed at higher levels.
The Telegraph said the Conservative Party had described the approach as a “nice pub tax”, warning it could hit rural and destination pubs that have invested in their offer.
Shadow communities secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “Labour’s business rates raid is heaping misery on to struggling pubs across England. Having promised to get bills down, Rachel Reeves has instead sent them soaring.
“Now ministers have some of Britain’s best boozers in their crosshairs, singling them out for special punishment. Gastropubs, pubs in ‘attractive locations’, and even community pubs are in the firing line.”
The revaluation comes amid continued concern over the impact of rising business rates on hospitality operators, particularly as pubs face wider cost pressures from wage increases, employer national insurance contributions and energy costs.
Calls for system reform
UKHospitality chief executive Allen Simpson said the sector still needed full reform of the system.
He said: “We have long called for complete reform of the broken business rates system, which has seen hospitality pay far more than its fair share for decades.
“While an ongoing review of valuation methodology for pubs and hotels is positive, we still need the Government to deliver its commitment to lower rates bills for the entire hospitality sector. That is one of the critical ways to reduce hospitality’s cost burden, which is the highest in the economy.”
A Government spokesperson told The Telegraph: “We’re backing Britain’s pubs, cutting this year’s business rates bills by 15% followed by a two-year freeze, extending World Cup opening hours and increasing the Hospitality Support Fund to £10m to help venues grow.
“HMRC’s expert surveyors use standard industry methods which have been used to value pubs for decades.”
