The Greater Manchester Mayor said the region’s hospitality industry was ‘critical infrastructure’Andy Burnham speaks to the media at a press conference in the IBM office in Manchester city centre on Thursday(Image: Copyright Unknown)

Andy Burnham has welcomed a reportedly imminent U-turn on rising business rates for pubs. Many hospitality businesses have been facing the prospect of much higher rates after the Chancellor announced plans to end Covid-era discounts at her budget in November.

The government had put in place a £4.3bn fund to help pubs with the transition to higher rates, but a new support package is now set to be made available after an outcry from the industry. Sources told the Press Association that the Treasury would bring forward a package of support in the coming days, likely to include business rates relief and measures to cut licensing red tape.

Speaking before news of the change in direction on pubs broke, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Mr Burnham, suggested he had been picking up on a difference in attitude from ministers towards the sector in recent days.

He told PA: “I don’t know if we have had confirmation yet of a change, but I am encouraged by the sense that there is a change coming and that the Chancellor and Government has listened.

“I think they do care actually about hospitality businesses and the high street, and actually it was clear that there was a real serious issue in relation to their survival in relation to the business rates position.”

Mr Burnham described pubs and other hospitality businesses as ‘critical infrastructure’ in the region, saying: “People come here for it. They visit us and actually people invest, locate their businesses here because they think it is a great place to live and a great place to go out.

The Chancellor Rachel Reeve (pictured at an event in London last month) announced plans to end Covid-era discounts for pubs at her budget in November, but a U-turn is now on the cards(Image: PA)

“That infrastructure is absolutely critical to us as a city region, and I am pleased, if there is this change coming, that the Government is recognising that as well.”

He later told reporters, including the Manchester Evening News, this his overriding feeling was ‘relief’ after hearing of the planned U-turn. “I’m no stranger to pubs, I do enjoy going out and about in the city centre. I have done over the Christmas period. But I’ve also heard the concerns of people in the industry, and the eye-watering increases some people were facing.

“It’s the heartbeat of our place isn’t it? We just excel at this stuff and we’ve got brilliant businesses. And to me, the threat hanging over them was, in some ways, a bit of a cloud hanging over 2026.

“So I’m really pleased. I’ve not seen the detail, but if he Chancellor is listening, which it sounds like she is, it is one of relief mainly.”

He said political leaders should ‘really work together to see how we can make land and property taxation work for smaller business and the hospitality industry’ as he urged the government to consider ‘more ambitious reforms.’

“From what I hear, it’s a step but again, it may not be all that is needed to sure up the sector. They know we will never stop making that case, because Greater Manchester is based on the great things we’re doing on industry, but it’s also based is a great night out.

“That’s why people come here and we want to make sure we never lose that and we don’t lose our venues, our pubs, our clubs, our infrastructure..”