‘Eye-watering tax will be the death of pubs’

BUSINESS rates rises will kill Britain’s pubs, warned beer campaigners, after revealing that one in three have closed down since the Seventies.

Over the past four and a half decades at least 25,000 pubs have closed, according to research by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), taking the number from 75,000 to 50,000 today.

In a report published today, Camra warns that the sector is facing a “ticking time bomb” over its future. It said the Government’s controversial new business rates introduced earlier this year could devastate the sector by forcing pubs to accept “eye-watering” tax increases.

For example the rateable value of The Baum in Rochdale, Camra’s national Pub of the Year in 2012, will increase by 377 per cent.

Roger Protz, Good Beer Guide editor, said: “The British pub is unique, rooted in our island’s history, dating from Roman and Saxon times.

“Above all, the British pub, both ancient and modern, has character and an atmosphere that could never be replaced.”

Now Camra has launched a campaign calling for an annual £5,000 reduction in business rates for every pub across England.

A government spokesman said: “The Great British pub is a national treasure and we’re backing communities that want to protect and run their local. We’ve already provided more than 9,000 small pubs with a £1,000 discount on their businesses rates bill as part of our £435 million package of support for businesses.”