Xpress Local & National Industry News
ALMR – licensed hospitality worst affected by crippling rates rises
by XPRESS,
07 March 2017
The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) has repeated calls for sector-specific action on business rates and highlighted the problem the country’s pubs, bars and restaurants face.
It said the sector was set to “shoulder this substantial and inequitable burden” compared with other industries. The move follows a suggestion by think-tank Centre For Cities that firms will benefit from the recent business rates revaluation. The ALMR said telephone calls to the helpline run by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) revealed examples of the average increases in rateable value (RV) across England.
They included a 28.7% average increase in RV for pubs and a 36.5% rise for restaurants in London. A large average RV rise for restaurants was also predicted for East Midlands (22.0%) and the south east (22.1%), which is the region likely to face the biggest average RV increase for pubs outside London, at 19.5%. The lowest average regional RV rises in both categories was in the north east, at 1.2% for pubs and 2.0% for restaurants.
ALMR chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “What the Centre For Cities’ report fails to acknowledge is exactly the point we have been emphasising – that spiralling business rates is a sector-specific issue threatening the UK’s pubs, bars and restaurants. A number of other sectors such as offices, industrial and retail may be looking at average decreases but licensed hospitality is the only sector facing an average increase in every region in England.
The nature of a fiscally neutral revaluation means that wherever there are decreases in rateable value, there must also be increases to balance this. Pubs, bars and restaurants are the businesses set to shoulder this substantial and inequitable burden. Phone calls from licensees to the BII helpline underline the scale of the problem, with a sample of 30 pubs reporting more than £300,000 of increases in rateable value compared with only £28,000 of reductions.
Pubs in areas the Centre For Cities states will benefit most from the revaluation are still being hit hard. A pub in Blackburn, the town looking at the greatest decrease in rateable values, is still facing an 8% increase, while a pub not far from Blackpool is facing a 29% increase.
We are also seeing pubs near Huddersfield and Bradford looking at 40% and 9% increases respectively and a venue near Sunderland facing a 30% hike. A recent study by CGA Peach shows 79% of business leaders are concerned about rising business rates. Many of our members tell us they are looking at substantial increases and are concerned about how they will foot the increased bill.
Clearly this is a real area of concern for our members and the wider sector. Our members are not exaggerating when they say increased rates bills could potentially be ruinous for them and their concerns should not be ignored or dismissed out of hand.”
Below is Centre For Cities latest tweet Re: Business Rates:
Article Credit: Propel Hospitality