Business rates: UK pubs plead for mercy after Rachel Reeves launches extraordinary ‘stealth tax’ raid

While earlier this year, Labour had opened the door to lowering business rates bills for high street businesses.

But the Chancellor only lowered them by a quarter of the amount she could have in her Budget.

Now, pub landlords could see their bills rise by as much as 500 per cent in just three years – with some telling Sky News of how they are “getting f***ed”.

Business rates are calculated through a formula of the property’s value combined with a “multiplier” set by the Treasury.

During the pandemic, small businesses were given business rates relief of 75 per cent to support them. That was reduced to 40 per cent at last year’s Budget.

This year, the Chancellor was poised to scrap the 40 per cent relief, then overhaul the system entirely to move the tax burden onto much larger businesses, with lots of warehouse space.

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But Ms Reeves went on to announce a five per cent discount for small retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses – when it had been assumed she would opt for a 20 per cent drop.

At the same time, businesses have been forced to see their Government-assessed property values shoot through the roof, effectively wiping out the discount.

Sam Carroll, who owns The Fox and Coney in South Cave, East Yorkshire, is among those facing that staggering 500 per cent rise over the next three years.

He explained his surging bills as follows:

• In 2024/25, his business rates bill was £8,360 with 75 per cent relief;
• In 2025/26, it will rise to £20,060 with 40 per cent relief;
• In 2026/27, it will rise again to £47,300 under the new Government valuation.

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“What’s the f***ing point in even trying?” he asked on social media. He then told Sky it was like “getting f***ed slowly, instead of getting f***ed overnight”.

“It’s the reevaluation that’s the issue… [It’s gone] from £35,000 to £110,000 since 2019. Moving the multiplier from 0.499 to 0.43 isn’t going to make a s***’s worth of difference in that context. It’s not about the relief,” he said.

Miranda Richardson, landlady at The Squirrels in Duston, Northamptonshire, said her bills would surge from £22,000 to £86,000 thanks to the new valuation – a nearly 300 per cent increase.

It’s estimated she would have to sell nearly 10,000 more pints every year just to cover the increase, according to How Many More.

PUBS FEEL THE PAIN – READ MORE:

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MIRANDA RICHARDSON

Trade body UK Hospitality has found that the average pub will pay an extra £12,900 in business rates over the next three years alone.

Its chairwoman Kate Nicholls said: “The Government promised in its manifesto that it would level the playing field between the high street and online giants.

“The plan in the Budget to achieve this is quickly unravelling, and will deliver the exact opposite.”

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith also warned Labour would “hammer British pubs”.

He said Ms Reeves “pretended in her Budget speech to be supportive, whilst the true detail is that a combination of rate revaluations and scrapping reliefs will leave most pubs paying thousands of pounds more than they cannot afford”.

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A Treasury spokesman said: “We’re protecting pubs, restaurants and cafes with the budget’s £4.3billion support package – capping bill rises so a typical independent pub will pay around £4,800 less next year than they otherwise would have.

“This comes on top of cutting licensing costs to help more venues offer pavement drinks and al fresco dining, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and capping corporation tax.”

A spokesman for the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which assesses the value of properties for business rates, said: “At the last revaluation, some sectors including hospitality were significantly affected by the pandemic, which resulted in much lower rateable values than they would have seen otherwise.

“Businesses that have now seen a recovery in trade are also likely to see an increase in their rateable value.”