Leading hotelier Steven Hesketh says discounts on business rate bills for pubs and music venues must be extended across the entire hospitality sector if businesses are to survive the mounting cost pressures they face.
Mr Hesketh, managing director of The Hospitality Hero and The Savvy Hotel Group, said the Government’s announcement of a 15 per cent discount on business rates for pubs and live music venues was “welcome news”, but warned that the measures fall short of what is urgently needed.
The business leader, who runs the Townhouse Hotel in Chester and the Wrexham Hotel in north Wales, said many hospitality businesses outside the pub sector remain at serious risk.
Mr Hesketh, who recently stepped in to save the Chester Food & Drink Festival from closing after 25 years due to rising costs, said: “This package of relief for pubs and live music venues is welcome news and is clearly a response to real pressure felt across the sector,” he said. “It will provide some breathing room for those businesses most immediately impacted by spiralling business rates and rising costs. The fact that the Government has acknowledged the need for intervention is positive for those individual operators and the communities they serve.
“However, this support stops well short of what’s truly needed. The current measures exclude huge swathes of the hospitality sector, from hotels and restaurants to night-time venues and cafés, all of which are dealing with extreme cost pressures, falling consumer confidence and, in many cases, real existential threats.
“While pubs may have secured a short-term reprieve, other hospitality businesses are still facing steep hikes in business rates, energy costs, wage bills and other overheads. For many operators, that combination could push otherwise viable businesses into crisis.”
Pubs and live music venues in England will receive a 15 per cent discount on their business rates bills from April and will not see increases for the next two years, the Government announced this week. Treasury Minister Dan Tomlinson said the three-year package would be worth around £1,650 for the average pub in 2026–27.
The move follows a backlash to November’s Budget, which left many hospitality businesses facing significant increases in their rates bills and prompted more than 1,000 pubs to ban Labour MPs from their premises.
However, industry bodies including UK Hospitality have warned that hotels, restaurants and other parts of the sector remain exposed, and have called for the relief package to be widened. The Government has said the scheme will cost £80 million in its first year, with its value over the following two years to be assessed by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Asked about the series of policy changes, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the Government “listens when people raise concerns”.
Mr Hesketh said listening must now be followed by decisive action.
“This isn’t just about one slice of the industry,” he said. “Hospitality in all its forms drives jobs, tourism and vibrancy on our high streets and town centres. If the Government is serious about securing that future, it needs to go further, and urgently. That means extending meaningful support across the sector, providing long-term certainty and addressing the structural issues that threaten so many businesses right now.
“Only then will we avoid closures, protect jobs and ensure hospitality remains a strong contributor to both local and national economic success.”
Earlier this month, Mr Hesketh warned that current Government policies were placing many hospitality businesses at risk of closure, comments that prompted a debate in the Welsh Parliament.
Outlining the pressures facing his own business, he said recent changes to business rates would see the rateable value of his Wrexham hotel rise from £87,000 to £171,000 from April 2026.
“That’s basically double,” he said. “When you break down the costs of running a hotel room, VAT, commission fees, business rates, utilities, wages and essential supplies, there is almost nothing left before corporation tax is applied. If there was a pound left at the end of all that, the Government would still come and take another 25p for good measure.”