Shropshire landlord: Chancellor's £300m support package 'could save pub industry'
Pubs could be getting a multimillion-pound lifeline from the government - something one Shropshire landlord said could save the industry.
A package of measures worth £300 million over the next three years are set to be unveiled today, according to reports, however the Treasury is yet to make an official comment or confirm exact details of its proposals.
Reports say pubs will receive around £100 million a year until 2029 through additional financial support but the Chancellor has avoided more fundamental changes to business rates.
It is likely to be seen as a vital boost after measures announced in last November's Budget would have seen the end of business rates relief for pubs from April after being in place since the covid pandemic.
They had previously been scaled back from 75 per cent to 40 per cent and, at the same time, the Treasury has readjusted the rateable values of commercial property, leaving some businesses with higher bills overall.
Business rates are set to rise incrementally over the next three years leaving some landlords facing huge bills at a time when they are also battling challenges such as the squeeze on discretionary spending, climbing energy prices and cheaper drinks in supermarkets.
Industry figures suggested the average increase in business rates over the next three years was around 76 per cent for pubs and 115 per cent for hotels. Other hospitality businesses, such as restaurants, cafés and hotels, are expected to miss out in this latest announcement despite also warning over soaring bills.
Ollie Parry has run The Salopian Bar in Shrewsbury town centre for 20 years and currently pays £18,000 in business rates annually but faced a hike up to £66,000 from April 2029.
He also warned last month that the pub's running costs could have increased by £185,000 over the past year once minimum wage and National Insurance increases were also factored in.
He told the Star: "Every pub will say exactly the same but anything is better than what was announced in the Budget in November as that was almost a nail in the coffin of the hospitality industry.
"This sounds like good news for the pubs and it might have saved the industry for three years but has also passed the buck, probably until the next General Election, so we might be having this same conversation in three years' time.
"If the rates had all gone up in April and there had been no more relief, you would have seen thousands of pubs closing over the course of the next 12 months.
"We have been through worse - we've had floods, the covid pandemic and big rate increases in the past - but we've survived because we work hard and we will survive this."But there will be a lot that won't survive and, for a lot of these pubs, when they do close they won't ever reopen, particularly in villages and rural areas."
The Treasury's planned intervention comes after an intensifying backlash from industry bosses and MPs over impending tax increases which has seen dozens of Labour MPs, including the Chancellor, barred by pub landlords in response to the Budget.
Norrie Porter is the secretary and public affairs officer for the Shrewsbury and West Shropshire branch of The Campaign for Real Ale which works on behalf of the beer and pub industry.
He welcomed the news but called on the UK government to look towards Europe where VAT on hospitality is seven per cent in Germany, eight per cent in Poland and ten per cent in France, Spain and Italy.
He said: "While CAMRA is grateful for any support for the pub sector, the problem of unfair business rates needs a permanent solution and to be applied across the whole of hospitality."Pubs need to be taxed on a par with other alcohol outlets, particularly supermarkets.
"We'd like to thank Julia Buckley MP for meeting with Shrewsbury publicans on Saturday and she agreed to take our message back to Westminster. Encouraging people to drink in pubs rather than at home would have real public health benefits as pub drinkers are more aware of their consumption and are monitored by staff.
"A reduction in VAT on hospitality, to the levels paid by our continental neighbours, would be a great move, as would a minimum unit price for alcohol as a way of stopping supermarkets encouraging excessive drinking through loss-leader offers."
Ruth Ross, chief executive of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, said pubs were the heartbeat of many communities and any help for the sector was clearly to be welcomed.
"The Chancellor recognised in her last Budget the current business rates system is broken and holding back growth but it is also incredibly unbalanced," she told the Star.
"We've seen an example of the challenging climate for pubs and restaurants right here in Shropshire in recent weeks, with the decision by TGI Fridays to pull out of Telford.
"While we welcome any support available to our under-pressure pubs, companies in other parts of the hospitality industry are facing similar challenges. We know that some are facing an existential threat. Taxation and business rates remain one of the greatest fear factors in our quarterly economic surveys."
