Last orders for Britain’s pubs: The government must act now or watch them disappear

Not only do they provide a unique social role, they play an important economical one. They directly employ hundreds of thousands of people and are key drivers of local economies.

Despite them being as cherished and vital as ever, far too many are staring down the barrel of closure because they are being broken by a tax system that punishes them.

The outcry has been unprecedented. Publicans are frightened, and many pubs could be wiped out by the new business rates bills. There is a very real and present danger that towns and villages across the UK could see their local close at an unthinkably rapid rate.

When a pub goes it doesn’t just mean a landlord loses out – it means workers lose their livelihoods, people have nowhere left to gather, and high streets see another depressing boarded-up building.

From April, around 5,000 of the smallest pubs will be hit with a business rates bill for the first time. For the average community pub, a 30 per cent rise in rateable value combined with the loss of vital relief means a staggering 63 per cent increase in bills – roughly £6,000 more every year. Some pubs have seen their rateable values double or even triple.

This is happening at the same time as large distribution warehouses, often used by online giants, face increases of just seven per cent. That is not a level playing field.

It is a system that continues to penalise bricks-and-mortar pubs that employ people locally, pay taxes locally and provide essential social spaces.

The Government has suggested transitional relief will soften the blow. Unfortunately, it will not. Even with this support, the sector’s total business rates bill is set to rise by £150 million by 2028/29 – an increase of 32 per cent. That level of additional tax threatens the equivalent of 15,000 jobs across the country.

Claims that the Budget permanently lowered business rates for pubs are, regrettably, incorrect. A five pence adjustment to multipliers does not fix the long-standing imbalance that sees pubs paying far more in tax relative to their turnover than many other sectors.

With energy, food, staffing and borrowing costs already high, margins are being squeezed from every direction.

If nothing changes, closures will accelerate. When a pub closes, a community does not just lose a business. It loses a meeting place, a source of local employment and a vital social hub that combats loneliness and brings people together.

There is no dispute that the way pubs are valued for business rates needs long-term reform. But leaders across the sector are clear that the situation is now so severe that immediate action is essential. The clock is ticking for too many pubs who fear they simply will not survive these new bills.

Despite this, I am heartened by recent meetings with Government. I am encouraged that they are in listening mode and appear willing to deliver on their promise to support pubs.

We now ask them to act before it is too late and introduce a 30 percent pub-specific business rates relief to be applied to final bills from 1 April 2026.

This is the quickest, simplest and fairest way to ensure our locals do not vanish, jobs are not lost and communities do not lose the precious hubs they rely on.

Pubs are one of our most valued national institutions. Let us keep it that way.

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Emma McClarkin is the Chief Executive, British Beer & Pub Association

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