Dearer drinks as rates hit pub trade

15 closing a week as triple-whammy hits

CLOSURES: Drinkers could be faced with a pricier pint as the pub industry moves to claw back a £204m rise in business rates that is closing 15 pubs a week across England and Wales.

New figures show that 390 pubs were either closed, had been converted or demolished between the beginning of April and the end of September.

DRINKERS COULD be faced with a pricier pint as the pub industry moves to negate a £204m rise in business rates which is claiming the closure of 15 pubs a week across England and Wales.

New figures show that 390 pubs were either closed, had been converted or demolished between the beginning of April and the end of September as the industry felt the force of Government tax changes.

Business rates were updated on April 1 to take into account movements in property prices over the last seven years.

As a result, the levy on pubs has climbed 14 per cent to £1.6bn for the next five years, according to business rents and rates specialist CVS.

The hike is part of a triplewhammy blow on the British pub industry, which is facing inflationary increases from April 2018 and the removal of a yearly £1,000 business rates discount.

The research comes as MPs gear up for a parliamentary debate tomorrow on how tax is impacting the beer and pubs sector.

Mark Rigby, chief executive of CVS, has warned that drinks could become more expensive for punters if pubs are forced to pass down the extra costs.

He said: “One in five pubs closed during the last tax regime, leaving the lowest ever number of pubs.

“While 15 pubs a week since the tax changes have been lost, the reality is that number is considerably higher as empty pubs still pay rates after a three-month exemption following closure.

“The Chancellor must be bold within his upcoming Budget next month, giving pubs a helping hand through an unprecedented stimulus of freezing rate rises in April 2018 and protecting the pub discount.

“Otherwise, increased operating costs will have to be passed onto customers, already squeezed by inflation, through higher prices at the bar.”

Research by The Yorkshire Post earlier this year revealed that 14 per cent of pubs in Yorkshire and the Humber had closed in the last decade.

However, a stark divide between countryside and urban communities meant that in some areas, up to one in five pubs had closed, with rural communities bearing the biggest burden.

The figures showed that 694 pubs have closed in Yorkshire in the past 10 years.

In Leeds, which has seen the biggest decline, that rate of closure is more than 22 per cent of its total pubs – with 122 closing in the city in the past decade.

One in six of all Yorkshire’s closed pubs became housing, the figures show, while 12 per cent have been demolished altogether.

Of the remaining, 17.5 per cent of closed pubs have been converted through a loophole in planning law which means they did not need permission for change of use. This loophole was closed in May, and now any applications have to be determined by local planning authorities.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has said it hoped the change would slow down the rate of decline.

The Chancellor must be bold within his upcoming Budget. Mark Rigby, chief executive of rents and rates specialist CVS.