Editor’s Viewpoint: When Hospitality Says ‘Enough’

By Peter Adams, Editor, CLH News.

The news that hospitality venues across the country are banning Labour MPs from their premises represents an extraordinary moment in our sector’s history.

It is, in equal measure, a source of pride and profound sadness.

Pride, because our industry is finally standing up and refusing to accept policies that threaten its very existence.

For too long, we have handed over power to politicians whose reckless decisions can destroy livelihoods, trigger bankruptcies, break up families, and cause serious ill health among business owners who watch their life’s work crumble.

The November budget, with its punishing business rates increases, has proven to be the final straw for an industry already on its knees.

But sadness too, because it should never have come to this. Pubs and hospitality venues are the beating heart of British communities.

They are where friendships are forged, families gather, celebrations unfold, and a sense of belonging flourishes.

Nobody does hospitality better than the UK, and our pubs in particular are renowned worldwide for their warmth, character, and genuine welcome.

These are not mere commercial enterprises—they are community hubs that have served their neighbourhoods faithfully for decades, even centuries in some cases.

To see such establishments forced into taking the extraordinary step of banning elected representatives speaks volumes about the desperation now gripping our sector. But as the saying goes, they have brought it on themselves.

We can ignore reality, but we cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. And the reality is stark: this government is destroying hospitality, which in turn deprives communities of vital social infrastructure.

The business rates bombshell is bad enough, but it comes on top of the net zero agenda’s devastating impact on energy costs.

Here at CLH News, our own printing costs have shot through the roof. I know of a pub here in Bournemouth, now sadly closed, where energy bills rose from a manageable £600 per month to over £2,000.

How is any business supposed to absorb such increases whilst maintaining quality, employing staff, and staying viable?

Despite the doublespeak and platitudes we hear from politicians on television, the experts tell a very different story.

As John Webber, Head of Business Rates at Colliers, comprehensively explains on page 7, the government’s arguments simply do not stand up to scrutiny. The policy is nothing short of a disaster for our sector.

Enough is enough. While the whole country may be angry about government policy(s) and tax hikes it is hospitality bearing the immediate brunt of November’s budget.

Our sector has shown remarkable resilience through the pandemic and its aftermath, but resilience has its limits.

The MPs being turned away at pub doors this week might finally understand what it feels like to be unwelcome—something the government’s policies have made all too many hospitality businesses feel in their own country.

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I can always be contacted at edit@catererlicensee.com