PUBS have been handed a financial lifeline after Rachel Reeves’ business rates u-turn amid fears of a jobs bloodbath and closures.
Landlords will receive the enhanced package after many feared going out of business after the Budget tax grab.
The support package is worth £1650 for the average pub just next year with three-quarters of pubs seeing bills falling or staying the same next year.
But the cash boost won’t be extended to the wider hospitality sector such as hotels and restuarants despite relentless campaigning.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “If we’re going to restore the pride in our communities, we need our pubs and our high streets to thrive.
“We’re backing British pubs with additional support, and our new High Streets Strategy will help tackle the long-term challenges that our much-loved retail, leisure and hospitality businesses have faced.
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“Thriving local businesses, bustling high streets and pride restored in our communities – that’s what this government is delivering.”
The announcement was made by Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson to MPs this afternoon saying pubs are the “cornerstone” of communities across the country.
He added: “They are essential to the social and cultural life of so many places across the country.”
He said that pubs will receive an extra 15 per cent off their new business rates bills – and bills will then be frozen for a further two years.
There was also a boost for pubs and football fans looking forward to the World Cup in North America this summer.
He said: “I can also announce today that pubs and other license venues will be able to open until 1am or 2am depending on when the game starts for home nation games in the later stages of the men’s football World Cup.”
Reeves had been under huge pressure to beef-up the support package for the hospitality sector ever since her Budget in November.
She was also banned from the Marsh Inn boozer in her Leeds West and Pudsey constituency as landlords stepped up their campaign for help.
She has made it clear that pubs need to be treated differently from the rest of the hospitality sector such as restaurants and hotels.
The Chancellor, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, said: “The situation the pubs face is different from other parts of the hospitality sector but we will be setting out the detail in the next few days.”
The Treasury had offered £4.3 billion in transitional relief as the support put in place after support during the pandemic came to an end, which gave a 40 per cent reduction in bills last year.
Figures from UK Hospitality reveal boozers will be hit by a 76 per cent hike in business rates on average over the next three years. Hotels will see their property tax bills up by 115 per cent.
The Sun revealed yesterday that a thousand pubs face closing their doors for the final time as they struggle to cope with higher costs, industry estimates reveal.
A perfect storm of business rates increases, beer duty taxes, employment costs and high energy bills could see the twenty-one boozers shut their doors every week.
An enhanced financial package for pubs is imminent from the Treasury as Ministers are told the closures could lead to 15,000 jobs being lost.
But the British Beer and Pub Association want a long-term solution to business rates reform alongside a cut in beer duty to help them with extra costs in employing workers.