Pub landlords across the UK are furious with Rachel Reeves amid her Autumn Budget and are asking she re-thank the “stealth tax” which will see their bills soar by as much as 500% over the next three years.
Some pub landlords have told Sky News that they are “getting f***ed” as the hospitality sector is facing a devastating financial blow from April next year.
The government’s business rates reforms quietly abolished the 40% Hospitality, Leisure and Night-Time Relief (RHL) and replace it with a system that will force many venues to pay more, not less.
Sam Carroll, who owns The Fox and Coney in South Cave, East Yorkshire is facing a 500% increase over the next three years.
Writing on social media Caroll said, “What’s the f***ing point in even trying?”
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He told Sky it was like “getting f***ed slowly, instead of getting f***ed overnight.”
“It’s the reevaluation that’s the issue… [It’s gone] from £35,000 to £110,000 since 2019.
“Moving the multiplier from 0.499 to 0.43 isn’t going to make a s***’s worth of difference in that context. It’s not about the relief,” he added.
Trade body UK Hospitality chairwoman Kate Nicholls said, “The Government promised in its manifesto that it would level the playing field between the high street and online giants.
“The plan in the Budget to achieve this is quickly unravelling, and will deliver the exact opposite.”
Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith warned that the government’s Budget will “hammer British pubs.”
He said the Chancellor “pretended in her Budget speech to be supportive, whilst the true detail is that a combination of rate revaluations and scrapping reliefs will leave most pubs paying thousands of pounds more than they cannot afford”.
The NTIA said that despite government messaging claiming the new system will deliver “permanently lower rates,” real-world examples tell a very different story: hundreds of pubs, bars, nightclubs, grassroots music venues, and late-night restaurants will see steep increases in their annual bills. This is not reform—it is a stealth tax designed to systematically close down the late-night economy.
Inner-city venues, particularly nightclubs and music venues, will be hit hardest. With the late-night sector already ailing, having contracted by 28% in recent years, these closures will further devastate communities, nightlife culture, and local economies.
Under the current system, venues benefit from 40% relief on their business rates. From April 2026, that relief disappears, replaced by new reduced multipliers. The result is massive, closure-level increases. A small bar with a rateable value of £25,000 currently pays £7,200 per year; under the new system, its bill will rise to £9,550. A mid-sized late-night restaurant or bar (£60,000) will see its bill jump from £17,280 to £25,800. Grassroots music venues or nightclubs (£100,000) will face bills rising from £28,800 to £43,000. Large city-centre nightclubs (£300,000) will see £86,400 leap to £129,000, while flagship venues (£650,000) will experience an eye-watering increase from £187,200 to £330,200.
“These aren’t marginal increases—they’re closure-level numbers,” said Michael Kill, CEO of the Night-Time Industries Association (NTIA).
“This reform has been presented as a permanent tax cut, but for most night-time venues it is the exact opposite. The removal of 40% relief wipes out any benefit from reduced multipliers and leaves businesses worse off overnight. Inner-city nightclubs, music venues, and grassroots venues are on the frontline of this attack. With the late-night sector already contracting by 28%, the government is systematically shutting down the late-night economy. This is a hidden tax rise on jobs, culture, and city centre life.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We’re protecting pubs, restaurants and cafes with the budget’s £4.3billion support package – capping bill rises so a typical independent pub will pay around £4,800 less next year than they otherwise would have.
“This comes on top of cutting licensing costs to help more venues offer pavement drinks and al fresco dining, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and capping corporation tax.”
A spokesman for the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which assesses the value of properties for business rates, said: “At the last revaluation, some sectors including hospitality were significantly affected by the pandemic, which resulted in much lower rateable values than they would have seen otherwise.
“Businesses that have now seen a recovery in trade are also likely to see an increase in their rateable value.”
