UK Chancellor dismisses calls to widen business rates U-turn beyond pubs

The UK’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves appeared to confirm while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, that any incoming business rates relief would only be made available to pubs, not the wider hospitality sector, saying that “the situation the pubs face is different from other parts of the hospitality sector”.

Research from Colliers found that hotels could see rateable values spike as much as 250% and that they will be hit with an average increase in rateable value of 77% under current plans. This compares with 29% for pubs and 14% for restaurants.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics show nearly 9,000 jobs have been lost from the hospitality sector since the Autumn Budget.

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