All posts tagged: business rates

Two UK pub chains axed along with 3,500 jobs amid rising taxes

Two UK pub chains axed along with 3,500 jobs amid rising taxes

Published by Sam Flores

Two UK pub restaurant chains are set to vanish from the high street as their parent company moves to overhaul its business in response to rising costs. Whitbread, which owns both Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, is planning to close all 197 of its standalone restaurant sites, including the Bar + Block chain, which could effect 3,800 jobs. The chains are typically located in close proximity to the company’s Premier Inn hotels. Chief executive Dominic Paul said the decision followed “significant cost increases”, which includes higher employer National Insurance contributions and business rates. The restructuring forms part of a five-year plan aimed at reducing costs and reshaping the company’s operations. Whitbread reported a 19% fall in profits to £298 million, and said it expects to save around £250 million through the changes. As part of the plan, around 110 sites will be sold, while other locations will be converted into hotel space, creating an estimated 600 additional rooms. It marks the end of an era for the steak and pub chains which have been popular with …

Garden centres hit by Reeves’s ‘financial vandalism’

Garden centres hit by Reeves’s ‘financial vandalism’

Published by Sam Flores

Garden centres are under threat because of Rachel Reeves’s “financial vandalism”, it has been claimed. More than two-thirds of horticultural businesses have been forced to put up their prices, and most have stopped hiring new staff as they are “squeezed on all sides” by the Chancellor, industry experts have said. The sector is facing further pressure as a result of Labour’s controversial business rates reforms, which are set to send bills soaring, as well as rising energy prices triggered by the American-Israeli war with Iran. The Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) – which represents 1,400 businesses including garden retailers, growers, manufacturers and landscapers – has warned that many traders will need to increase turnover by 10 to 15 per cent “just to stand still”. Fran Barnes, the chief executive of the HTA, said: “Garden centres are being squeezed from all sides. Many of our members are facing higher business rates this April because of the end of the 40 per cent retail, hospitality and leisure relief and the impact of revaluations, on top of rising wages, …

Labour launches ‘devastating’ new attack on pubs

Labour launches ‘devastating’ new attack on pubs

Published by Sam Flores

Thousands of pubs could be turned into flats and takeaways if new Labour planning proposals are approved, a campaign group has claimed. The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has accused ministers of drafting new rules that could put pubs at risk from “greedy” developers. Current planning regulations encourage councils to protect pubs unless they are not wanted by a local community. These rules state that local authorities should “guard against the unnecessary loss of valued facilities” when considering applications from developers who want to turn them into homes or shops. But a proposed amendment would mean the safeguard is limited only to the last pub in a village or town. The Telegraph has been campaigning to save Britain’s pubs, which are facing the challenge of cuts to Covid-era relief and a wave of revaluations in April, as well as rises in National Insurance and the minimum wage. Shortly after the campaign was launched, a support package was announced by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, to provide temporary relief to pubs from planned business rate rises. Pubs …

Rachel Reeves’s ‘jobs tax’ is killing high streets, warns Andrew Griffith | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves’s ‘jobs tax’ is killing high streets, warns Andrew Griffith | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

High streets are at the beating heart of Britain’s economy and our communities. But today’s report from Parliament’s Business and Trade Committee confirms what shopkeepers already know: business rates, retail crime, employment and energy costs are disproportionately hammering high street businesses. That’s what I hear week in and week out from entrepreneurs and business owners who are fighting to keep the lights on. On Monday, I was in Godalming with Kemi Badenoch, speaking to local retailers, café owners and family businesses. Their message was clear – the system as it stands threatens their very survival. Labour’s Jobs Tax has it more expensive to hire staff. Their so-called Unemployment Bill will bury employers under red tape and legal risk. The result? Fewer jobs, fewer shops and more boarded-up high streets. The Chancellor’s business rate hikes are for many the final straw. A fixed tax that has to be paid before any profit is made and regardless of whether high street shoppers are actually spending. Only the Conservatives have the team, the plan and the leader with …

Reform and Tories slam Labour for wrecking UK high streets: ‘This is how town centres die’ | Politics | News

Reform and Tories slam Labour for wrecking UK high streets: ‘This is how town centres die’ | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

New cash has been announced to rescue Britain’s crumbling high streets from further decay. The new support package will see £150million invested to spruce up shopfronts, open empty units and restore high streets in a bid boost community pride. The money will go to areas that have been hardest hit and are “most in need of being brought back together”. It comes as councils are empowered to block the spread of new betting shops and vape stores. Communities Secretary Steve Reed said: “Our high streets are the beating heart of Britain – where communities come together and local businesses can grow. Town centres have suffered from high streets falling into decline, and that is why we’re taking action to turn the tide with this crucial investment and more to come. “We have listened to what people are telling us and that’s why we’re giving them the power and control to breathe new life back into our high streets and restore the sense of pride communities feel, building on our transformational Pride in Place programme.” But …

Pelican boss: For some landlords, the rates rises are the difference between life and death

Pelican boss: For some landlords, the rates rises are the difference between life and death

Published by Sam Flores

We’re a new business, an ambitious one, one that would like to grow, but for any business in this situation, at the very, very least, you have to work out how to stay still, rather than go backwards. In these circumstances, maintaining the same profit actually is growth, because these stealth tax rises come directly off the bottom line. So if the government’s plan is trying to stimulate progress, it’s actually having the opposite effect. Source link

Rachel Reeves ‘is gaslighting the British public with wild claim’ | Politics | News

Rachel Reeves ‘is gaslighting the British public with wild claim’ | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Rachel Reeves has been accused of gaslighting the British public with misleading claims regarding her tax raid on pubs, as the Government prepares a partial U-turn on business rates following a fierce and sustained backlash from the hospitality sector. In her November Budget, Chancellor Ms Reeves insisted that more than 750,000 retail, hospitality, and leisure properties would enjoy the lowest business rates since 1991. She specifically highlighted a reduction in the small business multiplier to 38.2% for the 2026–27 financial year. She presented the move as a significant and necessary relief package for struggling pubs and embattled high streets nationwide. However, Conservative critics have condemned the statement as being wildly misleading. While the multiplier has technically fallen, they argue that the overall tax burden has soared because rateable values—the property valuations used to calculate final bills—have risen sharply following a recent revaluation process. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that business rates receipts will climb by a staggering £10 billion by 2031, reaching record levels that many businesses find unsustainable. Shadow Communities Secretary Sir James Cleverly …

Rachel Reeves to U-turn on pubs tax raid after fury from industry and MPs

Rachel Reeves to U-turn on pubs tax raid after fury from industry and MPs

Published by Sam Flores

“However, another temporary sticking plaster solution aimed at just one sector won’t be enough. Time and again we’ve seen piecemeal responses like this, but they won’t save our high streets. In addition to pubs, hotels, theatres, galleries and visitor attractions, as well as offices and gyms and many other types of business, are all facing steep increases in bills. Source link

Starmer hints at next major u-turn… it’s good news for anyone who loves pubs | Politics | News

Starmer hints at next major u-turn… it’s good news for anyone who loves pubs | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Keir Starmer has hinted at what may be Labour’s next huge u-turn, just days after reversing their planned Family Farms Tax. Speaking today, the beleaguered Prime Minister suggested he is looking to address fury from pub landlords up and down the country, amid a mass ban on Labour MPs entering hundreds of venues. Speaking earlier today, Sir Keir admitted that pubs will “struggle” as a result of a recent hike in business rates. In April, business rates reliefs brought in by Rishi Sunak during the Covid pandemic will come to end. Pubs are among those hit worst by the abolition of relief, combined with a significant rise in many of their rateable values in a November reevaluation. Throughout December a growing number of pubs joined a mass rebellion publicly banning Labour MPs from their establishments, hitting over 1,000 two days before Christmas. Speaking this morning, Sir Keir Starmer suggested pressure is reaching a fever pitch and he may be forced into yet another humiliating u-turn. He told GB News: “Look, we’re working with the sector, …