Rates relief reaction from pubco operators
Pub companies have been sharing their reaction to the latest business rates relief.
Larger pub and bar operators have been reacting to the government’s announcement on changes to pub business rates.
On 27 January, chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that pubs will get a 15% cut to new business rates bills from April 2026, followed by a two-year real-terms freeze.
Westminster said that the support package will save the average pub an additional £1,650 in 2026/27 and that around 75% of pubs will see their bills fall or stay flat over the same year, with the pub sector as a whole paying 8% less in business rates in 2029 than they do currently.
Broadly, pubs have welcomed the news, with leaders of major pub companies hoping the support will lead to overall reform.
"[It] will mitigate the impact of business rates increases that were scheduled for April," says St Austell Brewery CEO Kevin Georgel (pictured). "We are pleased that the government has engaged with our trade bodies and heard the voice of the British public, who so clearly recognise and value the enormous economic, social and cultural contribution of our pubs.
"We hope that this intervention is a recognition that we need a full review of the fiscal and regulatory landscape that has placed an unfair and unsustainable burden on the Great British pub. We now need to continue working with the government to permanently overhaul the outdated business rates system."
Greene King
"The government’s announcement offers some much-needed relief to pubs, and recognises the important role they play at the heart of communities across the country," says Nick Mackenzie, CEO of Greene King. "This package gives reassurance to publicans by easing some of the considerable cost increases due to come into effect in April. We look forward to continuing to work with the government on its longer-term plan for fundamental reform of the business rates system, and reducing regulatory burden, which is desperately needed by pubs and the wider hospitality sector."
Punch Pubs & Co
"We welcome the government’s decision to address the proposed rise in business rates for pubs with a specific support package, and it is right that the strength of feeling across the sector has been recognised," says Andy Spencer, Punch Pubs & Co CEO. "For too long [pubs] have shouldered a disproportionate and deeply unfair tax burden that has threatened their long-term sustainability.
"[The] announcement is a necessary correction, not a solution, and we will continue to work with the government, alongside our trade associations, in order to achieve meaningful, long-term reform of the rates valuation system. This will help ourselves and our publicans have the confidence to invest, grow and plan with certainty for the future."
Star Pubs
"Although we will need to fully digest the detail, this announcement is a huge boost for pubs and will ease the immediate concerns of publicans up and down the country," says Lawson Mountstevens, managing director of Star Pubs. "I am pleased that the chancellor has clearly listened to the many Star Pubs licensees who expressed their objections to the plans published at the Budget. This support is a welcome acknowledgement of the pub as the cornerstone of British society, and we are committed to working with the Treasury in the coming weeks and months. This support means publicans and their staff are able to focus on the day job – running great pubs at the hearts of their communities."
The whole of hospitality?
Like many who operate outside of the pub segment of hospitality, Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, asks what will this actually do for the hospitality and night time economy as a whole?
"While any recognition of the pressures facing pubs and music venues is welcome, this intervention amounts to little more than a drop in the ocean when set against the reality of the current tax system and the cumulative damage inflicted by the last two Budgets," he says.
"The sector has been savaged by rising business rates, VAT, alcohol duty, employment costs and licensing fees, and this limited, narrowly targeted relief raises a serious question: what will this actually do for the hospitality and night time economy as a whole? Not just for pubs and music venues, but for the vast proportion of the sector that will see no benefit whatsoever from this scheme.
"This policy position is frankly baffling. Pubs, bars, nightclubs, live music venues and cultural spaces are all part of the same fragile ecosystem, facing the same structural challenges and carrying the same disproportionate tax burdens. To support one part while ignoring the rest is not just short-sighted, it is fundamentally disconnected from how this industry actually operates. The chancellor must urgently address this imbalance and recognise that piecemeal, sub-sector-specific interventions will not stabilise the industry. Without a meaningful, sector-wide approach to taxation and business rates reform, closures will continue, jobs will be lost, and vital cultural and social infrastructure will be permanently damaged. The current approach is simply not sustainable."
You may also be interested in…
