Kate Nicholls
This archive features our reporting on Kate Nicholls OBE — a key voice in the UK’s hospitality and foodservice policy landscape. As Chair of UKHospitality, Nicholls plays a central role in lobbying government, shaping regulation, and influencing the commercial environment in which restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, and catering firms operate. Catering Today covers Nicholls’ statements, policy positions, and leadership activity because her work directly affects the trading conditions, labour challenges, and long-term resilience of foodservice businesses. For operators navigating rising costs, staffing pressures, or post-pandemic recovery, her advocacy and insights are both timely and consequential.
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Apr- 2022 -20 AprilGovernment
Gov to award CMA new power to ban fake reviews
The government is consulting a new law that will make it illegal to pay someone to write or host a fake review. It revealed this is so people are not “cheated” by bogus ratings. Fake reviews will be tackled by consulting on a new law against: Commissioning someone to write…
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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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11 AprilTrade Associations
UKH says sector ‘must help disabled’ people, but warns against monitoring
The hospitality industry “can lead the way” in helping disabled people to flourish, according to UKHospitality, but it also warned against “inappropriate practises”. UKHospitality said that the important personal qualities and skills of disabled people are valued in the sector, but it warned that disability monitoring and reporting could lead…
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5 AprilRestaurants
UKH calls for more support to help industry meet biodiversity regulations
UKH has called on the government to provide more support for hospitality venues to enable them to meet its biodiversity regulations. The trade body cautioned against “placing burdensome regulations on businesses already struggling to get their post-covid recoveries off the ground”, urging the government to “strike a balance between protecting…
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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 MarchPubs and Bars
Hospitality welcomes extended Platinum Jubilee licensing hours
The hospitality sector has welcomed the government’s confirmation that licenced premises will be able to extend their opening hours to 1am on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings of the special bank holiday weekend (2 to 5 June). UKHospitality applauded the temporary change in licensing rules for England and Wales,…
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29 MarchFeatures
The need to do more: hospitality rallies in aid of Ukrainian refugees
The United Nations disclosed that more than three million people have fled Ukraine in search of safety with “most” residing in neighbouring EU countries. Nearly two million Ukrainians have settled in Poland and the EU has granted those fleeing the war a “blanket-right” to stay and work throughout the 27…
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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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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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17 MarchGovernment
Parliamentary inquiry recommends VAT remains at 12.5%
An inquiry by a group of MPs has recommended that VAT for the hospitality and tourism sectors stays at 12.5% beyond March. The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hospitality and Tourism, concluded that VAT should not return to 20% this April, citing UKHospitality data revealing that the lower rate…
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