Businesses call to be included in any pub rates backtrack

High street shops, pharmacies and music venues have called on Rachel Reeves to cancel looming business rates rises for them as well as pubs.

The government is expected to make a statement Reduction in increases in business rates bills faced by pubs Coming to England in the coming days.

More than 1,000 pubs have banned Labor MPs from entering their premises, as landlords and pub owners slammed the upcoming price rises.

But other lobby groups and MPs have called on the government to expand the aid, saying many other businesses will be unable to pay the higher bills.

In the November Budget the Chancellor reduced business rate discounts, which have been in place since the pandemic, from 75% to 40% and announced there would be no discounts from April.

This, combined with large upward adjustments to the rateable values ​​of pub premises, has left landlords facing much higher bills.

The BBC understands that this decline will only apply to pubs, not the hospitality industry as a whole.

The British Independent Retailers Association (Ber) questioned why its members, which include high street shops, restaurants and cafes, would not be given the same help.

Chief executive Andrew Goodacre said independent retailers “face exactly the same challenges as pubs but have been left out of discussions about additional support”.

“Perhaps independent retailers need to follow the example of pubs and start banning MPs from their premises too,” he said.

Surinder Arora, who runs several hotels in the UK, said a potential regulation aimed only at pubs was “not right or fair”.

The CEO of Arora Group told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the business rates bill for just one of its hotels rose by £12.4 million after discounts were reduced.

“The new figures are eye-watering,” he said, adding that higher costs would be passed on to customers and “belt tightening” was inevitable.

While Arora said he supported the Chancellor’s growth target, higher taxes meant “rather than expansion we could go the other way”.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said the current business rates system is “not fit for purpose”.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “This latest announcement appears to be another plaster slapped on a broken system rather than the more fundamental reform that is needed.”

Jon Collins, chief executive of music venue organization LIVE, said: “If the government is preparing for a U-turn on business rates for pubs, it should not leave live events and arenas behind.”

Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, said the industry could face a rate increase of 140 percent, while the lobbying group for gyms, pools and leisure centers said these businesses could face potential rate increases of 60 percent.

“Failure to provide a business rates support package to gyms, pools and leisure centers will lead to higher prices, reductions in services, redundancies and, in some cases, the loss of gyms from our communities,” said Huw Edwards, managing director of ukactive.

Some of the lobby group’s concerns were also voiced by MPs.

Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage wrote to the chancellor on Thursday: “Venues, clubs and cinemas up and down the country are already struggling to survive.”

He said planned rates reforms risked “pushing many people over the edge”.

“While the Treasury must be clear about how it decided on the changes, the sector urgently needs more detail on the alternative support the Prime Minister has promised.”

Reeves said earlier this week the government had reduced the tax rate on pubs and hospitality venues, but the Independent Valuation Office had increased the value of those properties.

“We are now working with the industry to look at the implications of a range of policies and look at planning and licensing,” he said in an interview with Good Morning Britain.

“I want to support our pubs; I want to support our high streets. That’s why we’ve changed the timetables. But I’m aware that many roads are still struggling and we’re working with them.”