Emergency Business Rates Support Cuts Average Pub Tax Bill By £12,500 Over Three Years, With Bills Now Held Flat After Revaluation

The government’s emergency business rates support for pubs will cut the bill for an average pub by more than £12,500 over the three years of the 2026 revaluation, according to new analysis by global tax firm Ryan.

The analysis shows that, on top of the lower Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multipliers and transitional relief already in place, the combination of a new 15% pubs discount in 2026/27 and a real-terms freeze on core business rates bills in 2027/28 and 2028/29 significantly reduces the impact of revaluation driven increases

On an illustrative average pub, the measures reduce the core business rates bill from around £10,655 to £9,056 in 2026/27, an immediate saving of almost £1,600. But by preventing the normal compounding increases under transitional relief, the savings then rise to around £4,350 in 2027/28 and £6,570 in 2028/29.

Despite a sharp increase in rateable values at revaluation, the average pub will now pay less than it does today from April 2026, with bills then remaining broadly flat in real terms for the remaining two years.

In total, the analysis indicates a three-year saving of approximately £12,500 compared with what the same average pub would otherwise have paid under the revaluation, new multipliers and standard transitional relief.

Alex Probyn, Practice Leader – Europe & Asia-Pacific Property Tax at global tax firm Ryan, said the intervention “makes a real difference to cash exposure for pubs, particularly in years two and three, when transitional relief phasing would otherwise drive further step-ups in bills”.

Probyn added “the figures highlight why operators had raised concerns about the scale of revaluation impacts even with lower Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multipliers.”

The analysis is based an average pub rateable value rising from £30,945 to £40,245 at the 2026 revaluation, standard transitional relief caps and annual inflation assumed at 2% in 2027/28 and 2028/29.

The figures relate to core business rates liabilities only and exclude supplements, which sit outside transitional relief and are not discounted by the pubs support package.