Business Rates

Pub bosses mourn lost summer

15-Jun-2021 By Emily Hawkins

Pub bosses have warned they are in a “highly precarious position” with payments approaching despite continued trading restrictions.

Lockdown easing uncertainty has 'impacted momentum'

04-Jun-2021 By Emily Hawkins

A trio of trade bodies representing publicans and brewers have written to the Chancellor and business secretary urging clarity and support.

Six pubs demolished or converted per week during coronavirus pandemic

18-May-2021 By Stuart Stone

Some 384 pubs – on average six per week – have ‘vanished’ during the Covid-19 pandemic so far, having either been demolished or converted for different use, according to new figures from Altus Group.

‘Business rates cap will harm pub revival’

05-May-2021 By Stuart Stone

The Government must re-consider its proposed £2m business rates relief cap or face the continued “systemic closure” of pubs, according to Colliers International’s head of business rates.

'Cancel business rates until 2021 as sector recovers'

19-Apr-2021 By Emily Hawkins

Trade associations have called for business rates in England to be cancelled until at least October 2021 for hospitality businesses as they rebuild.

Business rates relief cap could 'strangle recovery'

26-Mar-2021 By Emily Hawkins

Trade body UKHospitality (UKH) has warned the business rates relief cap will endanger thousands of venues.

Reduce tax burden on pubs to boost recovery, think-tank urges

09-Mar-2021 By Emily Hawkins

The Government should support the pub sector’s recovery by slashing taxes and providing top-up grant support, a new report has claimed.

Spring Budget 2021

Business rates holiday will now end in June

03-Mar-2021 By Nikkie Thatcher

Pubs will not have to pay any business rates until June this year – an extension of three months, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced in the spring Budget.

Business rates review delayed until autumn

19-Feb-2021 By Nikkie Thatcher

The Government’s final report on the fundamental review of businesses rates has been pushed back until the autumn.

Business rates relief extended for Scottish pubs

16-Feb-2021 By Emily Hawkins

Full relief on business rates for the hospitality sector will be extended for another year in Scotland, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes announced today (16 February).

Treasury signals rates relief

04-Feb-2021 By Nikkie Thatcher

Councils have been urged not to issue business rates bills ahead of the new financial year on 1 April, until after the Budget on 3 March.

How to access a lockdown grant

02-Nov-2020 By Emily Hawkins

Pubs will be able to receive a grant of up to £3,000 for the month-long closure beginning Thursday 5 November.

Greater Manchester pubs to close under tier three restrictions

20-Oct-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

Pubs in the Greater Manchester region are the most recently hit by the Government’s tier three ‘very high’ measures with restrictions coming into play later this week.

London Mayor calls for 12-month business rates holiday extension

18-Sep-2020 By Stuart Stone

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has urged the Government to extend its business rates holiday for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses by a further year amid fears of tens of thousands of job losses.

Thousands of pubs under threat from £800m business rates bill

15-Sep-2020 By Stuart Stone

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has called on the Government to extend business rates relief to ensure that pubs facing average bill of £25,000 each don’t fall victim to the coronavirus crisis.

315 pubs lost for good so far in 2020

14-Sep-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

More than 300 pubs have been permanently closed, set to be demolished or converted for other uses according to exclusive data for the 34 weeks and six days to 1 September 2020.

'Wartime footing’ as business rates appeals soar

06-Aug-2020 By Emily Hawkins

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) has revealed that almost 145,000 businesses registered to begin the process of challenging their property valuations during April, May and June.

Trade bodies welcome Government’s evidence call for business rates review

22-Jul-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

Industry associations have hailed the Government’s decision to call for evidence for a business rates review by the end of September.

#Unitedwestand

2021 business rates revaluation postponed

06-May-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

A revaluation of business rates will not happen in 2021, in a bid to reduce the uncertainty for companies impacted by coronavirus, the Government has announced.

#unitedwestand

More than 20% of pubs lose out on Government grants as rateable value too high

07-Apr-2020 By Emily Hawkins

Almost 10,000 pubs have been left out of the Government’s grant scheme because they have rateable values of – or more than – £51,000.

MA500

Valuations Office Agency ‘starved of resource’

17-Feb-2020 By Emily Hawkins

Action must be taken to reform the Valuations Office Agency (VOA), which is currently under-resourced, according to Altus Group rating chairman Stephen Philp.

Delay to business rates discount

03-Feb-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

The business rate relief for thousands of pubs that was announced by the Government last month (January) will be delayed for some councils due to ‘software changes’.

Thousands of pubs to get £1k discount on business rates

27-Jan-2020 By Nikkie Thatcher

The Government has announced pubs with a rateable value of below £100,000 will have their business rates bill reduced by £1,000 from April.

Business rates slashed by new Government

19-Dec-2019 By Emily Hawkins

The Queen has outlined the Government’s plans to slash business rates for pubs next year at the state opening of parliament.

Publicans put off by lengthy business rates appeals

08-Nov-2019 By Emily Hawkins

The industry has spoken out against the business rates appeals process after Government figures have revealed the number of businesses appealing has dropped dramatically in two years.

Tax for online companies ‘must be used to help pubs’

01-Nov-2019 By Emily Hawkins

A digital services tax will not be enough to solve the pub sector’s problems on its own, operators have said.

Treasury committee concludes business rates system ‘broken’

31-Oct-2019 By Emily Hawkins

Industry bodies have welcomed a Treasury committee report into the impact of business rates that concluded the current system was unfair and alternatives should be examined next year.

Pubs face £13m business rates hike

16-Oct-2019 By Nikkie Thatcher

The pub sector could face a rise in business rates of £12.77m thanks to a 1.7% uprating for inflation, real estate experts have warned.

Calls for business rates reform heighten amid corruption denials

09-Oct-2019 By Emily Hawkins

Allegations that there was bias towards pub companies and their representatives in deciding the business rates system have been denied as a new report pushes for urgent reform.

Lower business rates to save high-street pubs, recommend MPs

21-Feb-2019 By Emily Hawkins

A committee of MPs has recommended lower business rates for town-centre pubs, warning that without urgent action some high streets could eventually disappear altogether.

MPs call for reform of business rates system

17-Jan-2019 By Emily Hawkins

St Albans’ MP Anne Main led the way in challenging the Government to reform the business rates system in a debate on the closure of Britain’s pubs in Parliament.

Pubs minister: ‘Amazon tax’ will provide freedom for business rates review

14-Sep-2018 By Claire Churchard

Jake Berry, pubs minister, said that the Government is committed to reviewing business rates and has pointed to an “Amazon tax” as a potential way to move forward.

Chancellor invited on pub crawl to hear business rates struggles

12-Sep-2018 By Emily Hawkins

Chancellor Philip Hammond was invited to go on a pub crawl by MPs, in order to experience the struggles faced by small pubs under the current business rates system.

Liberal Democrats propose scrapping business rates for land levy

31-Aug-2018 By Emily Hawkins

The Liberal Democrats have laid out a policy plan to end business rates in favour of a land value levy.

First successful rateable value appeal recorded

06-Aug-2018 By Emily Hawkins

A pub landlord has become the first to appeal the rateable value of his pub after the revaluation of business rates last year.

25 pubs a week ‘disappeared’ in past year

23-Jul-2018 By Emily Hawkins

During the past year, 25 pubs per week were either demolished or converted to other uses according to analysis from a real estate adviser.

Long Live the Local

'Long Live the Local' campaign launches to garner support for pubs under pressure

19-Jul-2018 By Claire Churchard

A campaign to raise awareness of the threats that pubs face from increasing financial pressures and tax rises has launched today, urging people to take action or risk losing their local.

Treasury minister told hospitality overpays business rates by £1.8bn

18-Jun-2018 By Claire Churchard

The hospitality sector is “overpaying” on business rates by £1.8bn, MP for York Central Rachael Maskell told a Westminster debate on Friday, stating that the situation has reached “crisis” levels.

Sector bodies unite in call for 'fair deal for pubs' in spring statement

09-Mar-2018 By Claire Churchard

The Chancellor has been urged to take decisive action on business rates reform, hospitality VAT and post-Brexit excise duty by a coalition of industry and consumer hospitality bodies ahead of his spring statement next week.

Hospitality businesses warned 'real hit' of business rates will come in April

20-Feb-2018 By Georgina Townshend

Hospitality businesses have been warned that the "real hit" of business rates is going to come in April - and could total as much as £75m - a figure "significantly higher than last year".

Two pubs a DAY have 'disappeared' since last April's business rates changes

05-Feb-2018 By Georgina Townshend

Two pubs a day have either been demolished or converted into other types of use such as homes and offices since last April’s business rates changes, according to analysis of Government data by real estate adviser Altus Group.

A year in the pub trade: 2017 review

22-Dec-2017 By Georgina Townshend

From the freeze of beer duty, the Punch-Heineken deal, pub-specific business rates reductions, to the 10-year anniversary of the smoking ban, a lot has happened in the pub trade during 2017.

ALMR welcomes proposals to reform business rates

18-Dec-2017 By Georgina Townshend

The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) has embraced business rates reform schemes from both the Scottish Finance Minister and the London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Number of business rates appeals 'drops 95%'

08-Dec-2017 By Georgina Townshend

Figures show the amount of companies that have asked the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) for their business rates to be checked has dropped by 95% from seven years ago, according to rent and rates specialists Altus Group.

Autumn Budget 2017

Pubs' £1,000 business rates discount extended in Autumn Budget

22-Nov-2017 By Georgina Townshend

The £1,000 business rates relief for pubs with a rateable value under £100,000 will be continued for another year, until March 2019, it has been announced.

Lib Dems restate call for 12.5% rates cap to 'protect pubs'

09-Nov-2017 By Georgina Townshend

Just weeks before the autumn budget (November 22), calls to protect pubs by capping business rates at 12.5% have been restated by Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans Daisy Cooper.

Autumn Budget 2017

Pub industry at risk without major tax changes, warn pub groups

19-Oct-2017 By Claire Churchard

The future of pubs and thousands of jobs linked to them are at risk if the Chancellor does not tackle “disproportionate” taxes in the Autumn Budget next month, a joint letter from eight leading pub organisations has said.

Industry bodies join forces to call for business rates relief

18-Oct-2017 By Fred A'Court

Industry, trade and consumer bodies have joined forces to call for business rates relief for pubs to be retained and greatly extended, and for a change in the way rates are calculated.

Thousands more pubs will close, says CAMRA

29-Sep-2017 By Michelle Perrett

The massive hike in business rates, resulting in raised prices of pints, will make many customers unable to afford to go to their local, according to The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Pubs in Manchester fail to apply for £1,000 rate relief

28-Sep-2017 By Michelle Perrett

Fewer than 50 pubs out of 223 in Manchester have applied for business rates relief of up to £1,000.