Editor’s Viewpoint: Time for Change

September 5, 2025 Business, Editor's Viewpoint, Tax

By Peter Adams, Editor, CLH News.

To quote a well-known phrase, we live in interesting times. As I type this, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has just resigned following a scandal over her failure to pay the correct amount of property tax, and while I am not going to comment on the specific issues which have forced that resignation, I will say that I believe it is due to intense public pressure, scrutiny and outrage.

I very much hope that the same public pressure, scrutiny and outrage will be focused on the Chancellor in the lead-up to her budget on November 26th (if she is still in that position, and nothing would surprise me at this point).

To date, her actions have been nothing short of “criminal” when it comes to supporting Britain’s hospitality industry, and we urgently need a change of direction before it’s too late.

Our lead article demonstrates the scale of the crisis facing our sector. Over 600 pubs have signed an open letter to the Chancellor urging her to reform business rates to provide “breathing space to invest” in their pubs. These aren’t faceless corporations pleading poverty – these are real publicans facing real hardship.

Take Hayley Pellegrini at The Portland Arms in Cambridge, who has seen a £7,000 increase in business rates this year and is now paying herself less than minimum wage just to keep her doors open. Or Mark Annear at The Cott Inn in Devon, whose rates have jumped by 175% and who can no longer afford to replace departed staff.

Greene King has estimated that the two changes it’s proposing to business rates could unlock in excess of £20 million a year from Greene King’s 1,500 managed pubs alone – imagine those savings across the country, releasing funds to invest, to keep staff, to maintain the community hubs that are so vital to our social fabric.

The mathematics are stark and damning. Nationally, the 39,989 pubs in England and Wales account for just 0.4% of business turnover but pay 2.1% of the national business rates bill. If taxed proportionately, pubs would pay £130 million instead of the crushing £637 million they currently face. This isn’t just unfair – it’s economically illiterate.

I also noted calls in “our neck of the woods” for a cut in VAT. Dave Burns from The Thomas Tripp pub in Christchurch speaks for thousands when he says rising costs and increased National Insurance contributions have led to venues cutting staff and, in many cases, closing down entirely.

The response from Treasury minister James Murray MP that “the reason hospitality has 20% VAT is to pay for and maintain public services” shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how economics works.
Sorry James, but simple research would reveal that cutting VAT in most EU countries has been a long-term success story.

When you reduce the tax burden on a sector that employs millions and serves communities nationwide, you don’t lose revenue – you stimulate growth, create jobs, and ultimately increase the tax take through increased economic activity.

The hospitality sector doesn’t need lectures about paying for public services – it IS a public service. Our pubs, restaurants, and hotels employ people from all backgrounds, provide gathering spaces for communities, support local suppliers, and contribute far more to society than the Treasury’s spreadsheets can ever capture.

It gives me no pleasure to see anyone in the court of public opinion, but the pressure for change as we lead up to November 26th must be relentless.

The Chancellor has the power to provide immediate relief through a lower business rates multiplier for pubs and a VAT reduction that would inject life back into struggling businesses across the country.

The alternative is the continued destruction of an industry that has weathered centuries of change but may not survive this Government’s indifference.

Our communities deserve better. Our businesses deserve better. And frankly, so does our democracy – when over 600 publicans speak with one voice, it’s time for politicians to listen.

The clock is ticking toward the Autumn Budget. The question is: will the Chancellor use this moment to support the backbone of British hospitality, or will she continue down a path that history will judge as nothing short of economic vandalism?

The choice is hers – but the consequences will be ours.

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