Pubs to get business rates relief after industry campaign - but Shropshire CAMRA warns 'permanent solution' needed

The news follows a measure announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in last year's Budget which said business rate relief would end in April 2026 and be followed by incremental rises over the next three years.

The relief was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic but was subsequently scaled back from 75 per cent to 40 per cent.

News was trailed earlier today suggesting that a support package worth £100 million a year for the next three years would be introduced by the Government.

Industry figures have previously 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.

Mr Tomlinson referenced 7,000 pubs shutting under Conservative-led Governments between 2010 and 2024.

• Sign up to our Shropshire Star email newsletters here

He said: "Pubs are the cornerstone of so many communities, they are essential to the social and cultural life of so many places across the country.

"I can confirm that from April every pub in England will get 15 per cent off its new business rates bill on top of the support announced at Budget. Pubs' bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years.

"This support is worth £1,650 for the average pub, just next year, and will mean that around three quarters of pubs will see their bills either fall or stay the same next year. Then bills will be frozen in real terms for the next two years."

The support announced by Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson will also apply to live music venues and pubs will be able to stay open until the early hours to show World Cup games this summer.

The Treasury's intervention came 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.

Separately, Mr Tomlinson said the Government would review the way hotels were valued as part of its support for the hospitality sector.

Ollie Parry has run The Salopian Bar in Shrewsbury town centre for 20 years and currently pays £18,000 in business rates annually, but was facing a hike up to £66,000 from April 2029.

He told the Shropshire 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.

"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."

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 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.

"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, added: "The Chancellor recognised in her last Budget the current business rates system is broken and holding back growth but it is also incredibly unbalanced.

"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."