Tom Kerridge is not named in the policy itself, but the measure announced by Andy Burnham gives pubs, clubs and live music venues in England a 20% cut in business rates. The package is worth £100m and is aimed at almost 32,000 venues, with the biggest live music sites left out.
The typical pub is expected to save £1,100 in the next financial year. That is a meaningful reduction, but it sits beside an earlier 15% business rates relief Rachel Reeves announced this year, so the new step adds to support that was already in place rather than replacing it.
Andy Burnham and John Healey
Andy Burnham said: “For too long, governments have stood by while cherished venues have disappeared from our local high streets. So today I am changing that”. He also said: “This government will back the businesses that people want to see in their communities. I said I would protect pubs and local high streets – the beating heart of our communities – and that’s what we will do.”
John Healey said the government remained committed to overhauling the wider business rates system at the budget. That leaves the 20% cut as an immediate measure, with the larger reset still tied to the budget and the detail not set out in the announcement.
Nick Evans in Faringdon
Nick Evans, co-owner of the Old Crown Coaching Inn in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, said the relief would save his business about £3,000 a year. He said: “It’ll save £3,000 a year, something like that. When you’ve got a £1.8m turnover business that shows less than 2% gross profit, chucking me £3,000 doesn’t help me at all”.
On that arithmetic, the saving equals about 0.17% of turnover, a small share for a business he says is operating on less than 2% gross profit. For operators in that position, the headline discount helps with the bill but does not move the underlying cost base very far.
Kemi Badenoch and Tim Martin
On Thursday, Kemi Badenoch said Burnham’s early policy announcement left her thinking, “Is that it?” Tim Martin called the rates relief “a small move in the right direction” and urged Burnham to cut VAT to 10%.
Hospitality leaders welcomed the tax cut but said hotels and restaurants were left out, which keeps the pressure on Burnham and Healey to decide whether wider help will come through the budget or whether the relief stops with pubs, clubs and live music venues. For operators outside the scheme, the practical next step is to wait for the budget and see whether the promised wider reform reaches them.
