{"id":572859,"date":"2025-11-15T22:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T22:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/572859\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T22:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T22:10:12","slug":"rachel-reeves-warned-she-could-kill-off-2000-pubs-with-budget-blunder-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/572859\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves warned she could kill off 2,000 pubs with Budget blunder | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Reeves has been warned that she could see 2,000 pubs close next year due to rising costs in the sector. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA)<\/a>, which represents more than half of the nation\u2019s pubs and 90% of UK beer production, said 12,000 jobs could be at risk as Britain’s boozers feel the pinch. In a letter to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget<\/a> on November 26, the BBPA has urged Ms Reeves to slash business rates and reduce beer duty by 5% to “keep the cost of a pint affordable to all.”<\/p>\n

The BBPA is also urging Rachel Reeves<\/a> to reduce the business rates multiplier by 20p and increase small business rate relief thresholds. The letter, which the Express has seen, reads: “The end of business rates relief and next year\u2019s revaluation of commercial properties are set to hit the pub sector hard, with rates bills expected to rise by over 50%.<\/p>\n

“This surge in costs could force more than 2,000 pubs to close next year, resulting in the loss of over 12,000 jobs \u2014 around six closures each day.<\/p>\n

“The impact would be severe for the economy, employment, and local communities, undermining your bold ambitions for working people and their neighbourhoods.”<\/p>\n

The letter was signed by BBPA’s Chief Executive Emma McClarkin, as well as other significant names in the industry like Nick Mackenzie, BBPA chair and Chief Executive of Greene King and James Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of Brewdog.<\/p>\n

It comes just 11 days before Ms Reeves is set to unveil her Autumn Budget on November 26. The Chancellor has scrapped plans to raise income tax following an improved economic forecast.<\/p>\n

She had been expected to introduce the hike to help plug a black hole in public finances estimated by some economists to be as much as \u00a350 billion.<\/p>\n

The BBPA, whose members produce more than 90% of the beer brewed in the UK, also said in the letter: “Every publican and brewer wants to invest and grow their businesses. This Budget could be the moment that starts to unleash that potential.”<\/p>\n

The trade association said that rising costs over the past 15 years, “compounded” by last year\u2019s controversial Budget, have resulted in a fifth of Britain\u2019s pubs closing down. The BBPA added that two-thirds of hospitality businesses<\/a> are now loss-making or struggling to stay afloat.<\/p>\n

It highlighted that pubs<\/a> are the “backbone” of local communities and economies, and that the sector contributes \u00a334 billion GVA and supports over one million jobs nationwide. However, the BBPA warned: “The cold economic headwinds faced by the sector are real and the costs are accumulating.”<\/p>\n

The average cost of a pint in the UK has soared from \u00a34.80 to \u00a35.01, with pubs retaining only 12p profit per pint, while 40% of brewers\u2019 turnover is tax, it warned.<\/p>\n

A Government spokesperson said: “Pubs are vital to local communities, that’s why we\u2019re cutting the cost of licensing, lowering their business rates and helping more hospitality businesses offer pavement drinks and al fresco dining, on top of cutting alcohol duty on draught pints and capping Corporation Tax.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves has been warned that she could see 2,000 pubs close next year due to rising costs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[181712,181713,51,14493,181714,181663,8937,619,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-572859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-bbpa","9":"tag-british-beer-and-pub-association","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-business-rates","12":"tag-business-rates-relief","13":"tag-pub-closures","14":"tag-pubs-and-bars","15":"tag-rachel-reeves","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115556006291101661","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}