Business Rates
We provide essential coverage of business rates policy and reform, and how it impacts operators across the UK foodservice and hospitality sector. From government relief schemes and revaluation updates to lobbying efforts led by UKHospitality and industry coalitions, this captures the key developments influencing site viability and cost pressures. Whether you run a single high-street restaurant or oversee a multi-site pub or catering group, we explain how changes to the business rates system affect your bottom line, and what you need to know to plan ahead.
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May- 2022 -16 MayNews
TRG faces investor backlash over CEO bonus
The Restaurant Group (TRG) is facing a potential backlash from the Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS) as the company’s chief executive, Andy Hornby, has received the highest pay since 2017, while benefiting from government support. According to the Guardian, the Institutional Voting Information Service (IVIS), which is part of the…
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Apr- 2022 -28 AprilPubs and Bars
BBPA calls on election candidates to support local pubs
The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) is calling on local candidates to back calls for fairer business rates and protect their local pubs ahead of next week’s election. The association said that with rates collected by local authorities, one of the “single biggest ways” councillors could help save pubs…
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13 AprilTrade Associations
UKH launches local election manifesto highlighting community recovery
UKHospitality has published a raft of recommendations for local government ahead of elections in early May, stating the sector’s “crucial value” as an agent for positive change for post-Covid communities across the nation. UKHospitality’s Manifesto 2022: Revitalising Local Communities sets out a dozen ways in which local authorities, councillors and…
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1 AprilGovernment
VAT rise to result in double-digit price increases, UKH warns
VAT in hospitality will rise from 12.5% to 20% on 1 April 2022, which UKH said “will result in double-digit price increases for consumers as operators struggle to survive” as the sector is forecasting cost inflation running at 18%. Recent business surveys show the industry is facing a 95% hike…
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Mar- 2022 -30 MarchFeatures
Sunak’s Spring Statement: What it means
“Businesses are going to be incredibly challenged to sustain themselves, having just begun some recovery after Covid,” reveals Lionel Benjamin, co-founder of AGO Hotels. The hospitality industry was already “decimated” by the Covid-19 pandemic and now, following Sunak’s announcement, the sector is being further burdened with VAT rates going back…
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24 MarchBusiness
High streets face £3bn rates rise on 1 April
Hospitality, leisure and retail businesses in England are facing a “dangerous cost of doing business crisis”, according to real estate adviser Altus Group, as the government presses ahead with its £3.1bn business rates rise on 1 April. Analysis by Altus Group, following yesterday’s (23 March) Spring Statement, shows councils in…
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24 MarchGovernment
Return to 20% VAT a ‘massive missed opportunity’, UKH says
A return to 20% VAT for the hospitality and tourism industry will be met with disappointment by thousands of hospitality businesses, UKHospitality has said. In addition, UKH has said that ending the 12.5% rate for hospitality would “jeopardise jobs and restrict the sector’s efforts to stifle price rises for consumers,…
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23 MarchGovernment
Spring Statement: Chancellor raises NI threshold to £12,570
The chancellor has outlined a series of measures to help combat the rising cost of living in his latest spring statement, including increasing the national insurance threshold by £3,000. Speaking in parliament today (23 March), Rishi Sunak began his speech by warning it is yet unclear what the impact of…
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21 MarchPubs and Bars
MPs call for end of ‘draconian’ pub tax
The All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG) of MPs has released a new report which calls on the Government to “urgently address the business rate iniquity which is threatening the future of pubs and their communities while online giants continue to swerve the taxman”. The report, ‘Levelling the Bar: reforming outdated…
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4 MarchRestaurants
UKH calls for permanent pavement licences
UKHospitality has said it believes making pavement licences permanent will “help the Covid-ravaged hospitality sector make a faster post-pandemic recovery”. It comes as outdoor drinking and dining areas have become popular over the past two years, which UKH said has “in some cases ensured the survival of those hospitality businesses…
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