Rutland Pub Says 15% Rates Cut Won’t Save Pubs
Government hails new support package, but landlords warn £32 a week won’t touch soaring costs
Pubs and music venues are being promised 15% off their business rates from April as part of a new Treasury support package – but landlords in Rutland say it’s nowhere near enough to save the industry.
The move follows intense pressure from pub groups and hospitality bodies, who warned that changes announced in November’s autumn budget could lead to “mass closures and job losses”.
Ministers have now confirmed that, in England, business rates bills for pubs and music venues will be cut by 15% in 2026/27 and then “frozen in real terms” for the following two years.
The Treasury says the support will be worth about £1,650 to the average pub next year.
However, other hospitality businesses – including hotels, restaurants and cafés – will not receive extra help, despite facing the same surging tax and energy bills.
Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the decision means the overall business rates burden on the pub sector will be lower by 2028/29, and confirmed the scheme will also cover music venues, many of which are valued in the same way as pubs.
The intervention comes after a growing backlash from industry leaders and MPs over rising property taxes, and anger at November’s budget, which scrapped a Covid-era 40% business rates discount for hospitality, leisure and retail.
Although the government introduced a lower “multiplier” and some transitional relief, trade bodies UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) warned that, without further action, pub rates bills would still jump by an average of 15% – around £1,400 – in April, rising by an average of 76%, or £7,000, by 2028/29.
BBPA chief executive Emma McClarkin welcomed the U‑turn, calling it a “pub-specific package” that would “stave off the immediate financial threat posed by accelerating business costs” and keep many locals’ doors open.
On the ground, though, some landlords remain deeply sceptical.
Ben Jones, from Rutland pub the Olive Branch, says the numbers don’t stack up for venues already on the brink:
“They're suggesting it's going to make pubs a saving of 1,600 pounds a year. It's £32 a week,” he says. “It is minimal. It is better than nothing, but it really isn't going to help a great deal.”
Jones points out that pubs have already seen far more generous support stripped away.
“We've previously had a 70% relief on our business rates last year."
"The current government cut that down to a 30% rates relief this year."
"That rate relief was going down to zero, and then they're offering a 15% reduction on that. So we're really no better off at all.”
With energy, wages, beer and food prices all climbing, he says the margins simply aren’t there.
“We do have very, very high costs and therefore it doesn't leave a great deal,” he explains. “It's just unfair to base your rates upon your turnover, and really, the only fair way of doing it is for it to be based upon the size of your building like most other business rates are.”
While the Treasury insists its package will ease pressure on pubs and music venues, many in hospitality argue that without a fundamental overhaul of how rates are calculated – and broader support extended to the whole sector – the latest offer amounts to a sticking plaster on a long‑running crisis.