CP
Britain’s beloved pubs, bars and restaurants are vanishing at a terrifying pace, and it’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s tax raid that’s being blamed for the carnage.
This collapse is not just a blow to local economies but a cultural and social tragedy that strikes at the heart of British life.
Since Labour’s October Budget, a whopping 1,122 hospitality venues have closed, that’s two every single day, according to shocking new figures from CGA and AlixPartners.
Industry chiefs say Reeves’s Budget has walloped pubs and restaurants with crippling costs, sending businesses to the wall and ripping the heart out of high streets and communities across the country.
Kate Nicholls, head of UKHospitality, didn’t hold back:
“Two hospitality venues closing every day is not just a statistic; it represents the hollowing out of our high streets and communities.
Independent businesses, the lifeblood of our sector, are being disproportionately crushed under the weight of unfair taxation and soaring employment costs.”
And it’s not just small locals shutting up shop. Casual dining chains and gastropubs have also been hammered: 633 restaurants, 326 gastropubs and 100+ chain venues have closed in just 12 months.
Bitter bill
The trouble began when Labour’s Budget in October hiked the tax burden on employers. Reeves ramped up the employer National Insurance rate from 13.8% to 15%, and slashed the threshold for paying it from £9,100 to £5,000.
That means bosses now pay NI tax on more part-time staff than ever before. For a sector already fighting to survive after Covid, it’s been a killer blow.
On top of that, the Chancellor slapped a 6.7% rise in the minimum wage, pushing employment costs up by another £1.9 billion.
In total, Reeves’s changes have piled £3 billion in extra costs on the sector, a staggering figure for an industry running on tight margins.
Graeme Smith, from data firm AlixPartners, told The Telegraph:
“After a period of relative stability for pub and restaurant businesses last year, the first half of 2025 has proved more challenging, with the net closure rate increasing again – the big question for hospitality is what happens from here?”
Down the pan
The UK now has just 98,746 licensed hospitality venues, and the worst may still be to come, with Reeves planning a business rates shake-up that will clobber bigger venues like Wetherspoons and Fuller’s pubs.
Sir Tim Martin, boss of Wetherspoon, warned:
“Higher business rates will exacerbate the already ferocious tax disadvantage that pubs are currently labouring under, inevitably resulting in increased home consumption and less pubs.”
Andrew Griffith, the Shadow Business Secretary, fumed:
“The revelation that hospitality venues are closing at the rate of two every day as a result of this Government’s choices is very concerning.
“It shows how these staples of high streets and communities are hitting breaking point under the weight of hikes in rates, jobs taxes and employment costs. If everyone in Whitehall worked a shift or two in hospitality this summer, they might understand this better.”
Industry leaders are begging for help before it’s too late. Nicholls added:
“We need urgent, decisive action to relieve the burden on a sector that should be a powerful engine for economic growth and job creation.”
But Labour’s response? A pat on the back. A Government spokesman bizarrely claimed business confidence is booming:
“We know the vital importance of hospitality which is why we are protecting pavement pints and al fresco dining, have cut alcohol duty on draught pints and are reforming business rates.”
But for thousands of small business owners, workers, and communities across the UK, those reassurances ring hollow. The numbers speak louder: Reeves’s Budget has ushered in one of the darkest periods for the hospitality sector in living memory. The cultural fabric of the nation is fraying – and for many, the Chancellor’s “Plan for Change” is costing Britain far more than it can afford.
Worth reading this story in full in The Telegraph here.
This article (Labour Blamed for Britain’s Pub and Restaurant Crisis: Over 1,100 Venues Lost Since October) was created and published by Conservative Post and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author CP
Featured image: The Telegraph
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