Well, now the industry is choking on its own pork scratchings as we absorb the outcome of the latest Labour Government Budget, a Budget that promised a lot, and delivered, well, pretty much bugger all.
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More than 400,000 people from the sector signed a petition calling for a VAT cut for hospitality, a VAT cut that was desperately needed by an industry that was still reeling from the two previous Labour Government Budgets.
But wait, this was a new Labour Government, a new PM and Chancellor, ones that claim to care about the pub sector, and choose to do much of their social media from the pub, using the location as shorthand to remind the voters they’re “one of you”, ordinary blokes who like nothing better than enjoying a pint in the pub.
Instead, they’ve shafted those pubs by leaving them high and dry and, once again, increasing the costs of employment.
No mention of VAT
They might think that by raising the lowest levels of wages, they’re bringing everyone up, but when businesses stop employing those people because they can’t afford to, no one is getting lifted up, and the bill falls back onto the welfare state, which means they’ll whack up our taxes even further to fund their own idiocy on business.
There was not even a mention of VAT for the sector - despite a campaign which for once united the entire industry and made cognitive arguments for the benefit of such a cut.
Granted, there was a minor tweak in business rates, raising the threshold from £12,000 to £18,000, but given the last rates revaluation increased most operators rates valuation by anywhere between 100% and 300% and more in cases, how many actual pubs will benefit?
And once again, the more successful operators that have worked hard to grow their operations will miss out as they will be way over that threshold.
NICs talk
There was talk about doing something around the national insurance contribution (NICs) increases imposed by the previous administration - a move that increased costs hugely for operators and led to more than 100,000 job cuts across the sector. Again, nothing from the Government, a Government that is concerned about employment, particularly among the young, which our sector disproportionately employs.
All in all, as one operator put it to me “Burnham promised us the cavalry was coming. Well, right now, I feel like Custer at Little Bighorn”.
So much hope was pinned on this Budget, with the mood music from the leadership giving operators hope - well, now we can see exactly where we stand with Burnham and his cohort - pretty much where we stood with Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.
I’d like to think they’d feel some shame, but I’m not that naive.
