Tens of thousands of Americans have urged their federal government to make this big, bold move. They will scrap the planned rises to business rates bills for pubs across England. Landlords and publicans have been making their feelings known with strident condemnation of the proposed increases. They feel that these increases imperil the continued existence of their businesses.
In his November Statement, the Chancellor announced reducing business rate discounts from 75% to 40%. Beginning in April, there are no further discounts to be seen at all. This increased revaluations of properties across the country just weeks ago. Because of this, hotel owners, operators, and investors—once the key proponents of such policies—are increasingly sounding alarm bells. Venues, clubs and cinemas are being crushed by a financial guillotine. This pandemic—including the inadequate responses thus far—has led to loud demands for a bolder, broader relief bill.
Conservative MP Dame Caroline Dinenage underscored the ‘bleak’ outlook for many arts and cultural spaces. She stated, “Venues, clubs and cinemas up and down the country are already struggling for survival.” Confronted with these obstacles, she did something. She even recently wrote to the Chancellor, scrutinizing him for adopting a ‘fire-fighting’ approach to business rates.
Dame Dinenage’s concerns are widely shared across the industry. Jon Collins, chief executive of LIVE, the umbrella body that represents music venues, has similar fears. Collins further highlighted the necessity of making sure live events are considered in any forthcoming policy changes. He stated, “If the government is preparing a U-turn on business rates for pubs, it must not leave live events and arenas behind.”
Huw Edwards, chief executive of ukactive, was equally positive on this front. He warned that failure to provide a support package for gyms, pools, and leisure centres could lead to higher prices and reduced services. He argued that this would eventually lead to the abandonment of key community assets. “Failure to provide a business rates support package to gyms, pools and leisure centres will lead to higher prices, reduced services, redundancies and in some cases the loss of gyms from our communities,” Edwards said.
There is much talk and expectation around what the government will do to address these business rates as they rapidly rise. Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the Independent Retailers Association, said that while they have been hit like pubs, these industries have been omitted from discussions on extra help. He remarked, “Perhaps independent retailers need to follow the pubs’ example and start banning MPs from their premises too.” Goodacre’s remarks are indicative of an increasing dissatisfaction among independent retailers that they’re being ignored in this pivotal conversation.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), underlined the pressing need for reform to the business rates system. She observed that while bespoke changes to support specific sectors such as pubs are always welcome, they shouldn’t lose focus of addressing the big picture issue. “This latest announcement looks like another sticking plaster on a broken system rather than the more fundamental reform required,” Dickinson stated.
Amidst these developments, Rachel Reeves, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, acknowledged the challenges faced by numerous businesses within the hospitality sector. She reiterated her pledge to support pubs and high streets but acknowledged that too many pubs and high streets continue to struggle. I want to back our local pubs; I want to back our local high streets. That’s why we changed the policy on rates. But I know that a lot of those routes are still suffering and we’re in it together with them,” Reeves said.