“Smaller businesses are taking the biggest hit James Flanders, Chief Consumer Reporter Published: 21:00, 5 Aug 2025 Updated: 21:00, 5 Aug 2025 OVER 1,100 pubs and restaurants have shut their doors since Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s tax hikes last October, with venues closing at a rate of two per day, according to CGA and AlixPartners. The”, — write: www.thesun.co.uk
- James Flanders, Chief Consumer Reporter
- Published: 21:00, 5 Aug 2025
- Updated: 21:00, 5 Aug 2025
The hospitality industry is struggling under soaring costs, with National Insurance changes and a 6.7 per cent minimum wage increase adding £2.9billion to employers’ bills.
Smaller businesses are taking the biggest hit, as restaurant numbers have already dropped by nearly three per cent this year.
Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: “Independent businesses, the lifeblood of our sector, are being disproportionately crushed under the weight of unfair taxation and soaring employment costs.”
The sector has already lost 16,000 venues since the pandemic began, with mounting fears that upcoming changes to business rates could further damage larger hospitality companies.
Wetherspoon’s boss Sir Tim Martin has long warned that higher rates would worsen the tax burden on pubs, driving more home drinking and fewer pub visits.
Ms Nicholls added: “We now run the very real risk of being taxed out of existence.
“The Government must lower the business rates that punish high street businesses, fix the poorly designed National Insurance Contributions that penalise job creation, and cut the rate of VAT to stimulate investment.”
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More than 1,100 pubs and restaurants have shut since Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ tax rises in October, figures showCredit: Alamy