Independent Brewers Warning to Chancellor Following Budget Impact on Hospitality Sector’

Independent brewers have fired a stark warning shot across Westminster’s bow, penning an urgent open letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves that lays bare their “deep concern” over the devastating impact of last week’s business rates decisions on an already beleaguered hospitality sector.

The Society of Independent Brewers & Associates (SIBA) Board of Directors pulled no punches in today’s correspondence, signalling mounting anger across the brewing and licensed trade at fiscal policies that operators warn could prove the final straw for countless neighbourhood pubs, taprooms and independent hospitality venues still struggling to recover from years of economic turbulence.

The letter reads:

“Dear Chancellor

As members of the Board of the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) we represent around 700 independent breweries, operating at the heart of our communities across the UK. We are an integral part of the UK’s brewing and pub sector that as a whole supports one million jobs and pays £18 billion in taxes.

We take this unprecedented step of jointly writing to you to express our deep concern at the impact of last week’s business rates decisions on the hospitality sector. We would urge you to work in partnership with the devolved nations to look at what further immediate support can be provided to help the industry. Measures could include widening the business rates discount for pubs from 5 pence to 20 pence and delaying the revaluations.

As a sector, we were optimistic of your pledges to reform business rates to help address the iniquitous tax imbalance between traditional business and online tech giants. As a percentage of turnover we pay tax at four times that of those global businesses which has always struck us as deeply unfair.

While we were disappointed that you didn’t take the opportunity in your Budget to lower duty on draught beer sold in pubs, the sector were initially heartened by your announcement of increased support on business rates and to make the hospitality relief permanent.

However, once the revaluations are taken into account and the transitional relief unwinds, pubs will now typically pay 76% more in business rates whilst online tech giants only pay 16% more. The imbalance is widening still further. The promises made seem to be at odds with

the reality that community pubs now face. With pub closures at a new high and having lost more than 100 breweries in the past year, the hospitality sector is in a fragile state. These changes to business rates could be the difference between closure and survival for businesses that operate as the beating heart of communities and bring people together when society needs it most.

We would be happy to host you at one of our independent breweries to discuss this further and explore options to maintain our brewing and pub sector.

Yours sincerely”

The open letter has been signed unanimously by all 28 SIBA Regional Directors from across the UK, as well as all 4 SIBA Non-Exec Directors, in what is a clear show of solidarity from independent brewers facing a crisis of survival for the pubs and hospitality sector.