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Pub unsustainable without rates support - landlord

BBC Landlord standing by the barBBC
Landlord Neil Taylor said prices would have to rise

A landlord has said his pub would not be sustainable if government support for the hospitality industry had been axed by the chancellor during the Autumn Statement.

Neil Taylor from The Fox at Shipley, on the Staffordshire/Shropshire border, welcomed the 75% discount to business rates continuing until 2025.

He said the £30,000 annual bill was one of his major overheads, along with utility bills costing £5,000 a month.

The 75% business rates relief scheme was introduced in November 2022 to support businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure industries.

In his Autumn Statement the Chancellor also announced a freeze on alcohol duty until August 2024.

But the Campaign for Real Ale group (Camra), described it as a "missed opportunity".

The organisation said the government should have cut taxes on draft beer and cider served in pubs instead of an across-the-board freeze on all alcohol duty.

'Prices will rise'

Landlord Neil Taylor said the chancellor had taken with one hand and given with the other.

He welcomed a freeze on alcohol duty and rates relief, but said prices would have to rise to pay for an increase in the minimum wage, known as the National Living Wage.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced that it would rise by £1.04 to £11.44 per hour from April, and would apply to 21 and 22-year-olds for the first time.

Mr Taylor said: "We have a mixed skill set in this industry and people paid a lot more than the living wage expect you to keep a gap between their hourly rate and the living wage.

"There's only so much we can charge for a meal, but we have to pass the costs on."