Financial support for struggling pub and live music venues is welcome but “wholly inadequate”, bosses have warned after the Treasury cut business rates bills.
Pubs and live music venues in England will benefit from 15% off their business rates bills from April, after warnings from the sector that changes from November’s autumn budget would lead to mass closures and job losses.
However, the fresh intervention was met with a mixed reaction, with some pub bosses cheering the support while others raised concerns over its scope.
Other hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and cafes will not receive additional support despite their own concerns over soaring tax bills.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said “pubs are different”, when asked why other hospitality operators would not benefit.
Speaking at a pub in south-east London after pouring a pint and a gin and tonic, the Chancellor said: “In the budget, we reformed how the business rates system worked and we put in £4.3 billion to support businesses as we start to unwind the pandemic era support, and that’s the right thing to do because that pandemic support can’t continue forever.
“But we recognise that after the pandemic, valuations of many pubs have increased sharply and that’s put pressure on pubs.”
Our response to today's announcement 📣
— British Beer & Pub Association (@beerandpub) January 27, 2026
We are pleased the government has listened to our concerns, and those of publicans, consumers and MPs who rallied to defend our locals. This pub specific package will stave off the immediate financial threat posed by accelerating business…
She said she understood concerns about hotels and high street businesses, but added: “Pubs are different.
“They are a huge community asset. Seven thousand pubs closed under the last Conservative government and we’ve got to do more to protect our pubs.”
Steve Perez, boss of the Casa Hotel and Peak Edge Hotel, both based near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, said the new funding “simply doesn’t go far enough”.
He told the Press Association news agency: “One of our sites is seeing its business rates going up by 45%, another by 115%. It’s completely unfair.
“Hotels and restaurants employ large numbers of people but make very little money so should also be eligible for support.”
On Tuesday, Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson said the property tax bills for pubs and music venues in England will be reduced by 15% in 2026/27 and then be “frozen in real terms” for the next two years.
He added that the support will be worth £1,650 for the average pub next year.
Mr Tomlinson said: “This decision will mean that the amount of business rates paid by the pub sector as a whole will be lower in 2028/29.
“It will also apply to music venues too. Many are valued as pubs and it would not be right to draw the line.”
Dom Jacobs, founder and managing director of the Ardent Pub Group in London, said: “Rachel Reeves’ latest U-turn may be welcome, but it is wholly inadequate.
“Hospitality continues to shoulder an excessive tax burden, and this half-measure does nothing to change that.
“Instead of backing a sector capable of delivering real growth and jobs, the government has once again missed the mark, a failure that will inevitably push many brilliant publicans out of business.”
But Jonathan Neame, chief executive of pub firm and brewer Shepherd Neame, was more positive.
“I think I have been among the Government’s harshest critics but it is good to see they have listened to concerns and come up with a sensible level of rates,” he told the Press Association.
“It will take the pressure off a little bit and make a significant difference for our pub tenants.”
The Treasury’s intervention comes after an intensifying backlash from industry bosses and MPs over impending tax increases.
Dozens of Labour MPs, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, have been barred by pub landlords in response to November’s autumn budget.
In the budget, the Treasury announced changes to business rates which introduced a lower multiplier used to calculate the commercial property tax.
This was more than offset by the removal of a Covid-era 40% discount to business rates bills for hospitality, leisure and retail businesses, as well as new property valuations.
The Chancellor introduced transitional relief to manage increases to rates bills over the next three years after the removal of sector discounts.
However, industry bodies UKHospitality and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) had warned that pub business rates bills would still increase by an average of 15%, or £1,400, in April without an intervention.
They said this would have led to an average rise of 76%, or £7,000, by the 2028/29 financial year.
The Government also committed to reviewing the methodology used for assessing the value of hotels, with hotel business set for a 115% increase in rates in the next three years.
It also confirmed plans to publish a new high street strategy.
Business rates are devolved in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
