Closed petition Review and support the continued operation of pubs to prevent more closures

Government responded

This response was given on 16 October 2025

We recognise hospitality’s vital role in our communities and are supporting the sector through targeted action, cutting red tape, removing barriers, and creating conditions for businesses to thrive.

Government recognises that hospitality businesses, including pubs, are not only central to our history and heritage but also play a crucial role in boosting local economies and bringing people together.

The hospitality sector continues to face real and sustained pressures, with rising costs and reduced demand placing strain on businesses. These challenges reflect wider economic conditions, and while the Government inherited a difficult fiscal position requiring tough decisions, it remains committed to supporting the sectors most affected.

That is why we are reforming business rates and intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure that RHL businesses benefit from much-needed certainty and support. We also prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier. By extending the relief, the Government has saved the average pub, with a rateable value of £16,800, over £3,300.

We also reduced alcohol duty on qualifying draught products, representing an overall reduction in duty bills of over £85m a year. To assist independent breweries, we’re currently assessing the beer market to determine whether there are any barriers preventing small brewers' from accessing pubs.

The Government has taken several difficult but necessary decisions on tax, welfare, and spending to fix the public finances, fund public services, and restore economic stability. One of the toughest decisions we took was to raise the rate of employer National Insurance contributions (NICs) from 13.8% to 15%, whilst reducing the per-employee threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance (the Secondary Threshold) from £9,100 to £5,000. The hospitality sector is predominately made up of smaller businesses. The Government protected the smallest businesses from these changes by increasing the Employment Allowance from £5,000 to £10,500. This means that this year, 865,000 employers will pay no NICs at all, and more than half of all employers will either gain or will see no change.

Through the English Devolution Bill, we will introduce a strong new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces. This measure will empower local people to bring community spaces back into community ownership and end the blight of empty premises on our high streets. Via the Hospitality Support Scheme the Government is co-funding projects such as Pub Is The Hub to help community pubs adapt to changing local needs, ensuring these vital social hubs continue delivering for their communities.

Additional support includes our recently launched plan for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) which delivers the most comprehensive package for SMEs, in a generation. Part of this plan includes introducing a new National Licensing Policy Framework to simplify outdated rules, making it quicker, easier, and more affordable to open and run hospitality venues, while helping small businesses grow and communities thrive.

New ‘hospitality zones will fast-track permissions for alfresco dining, pubs, bars and street parties, reforms will protect long-standing venues from noise complaints by new developments. Government is committed to ensuring that planning and licensing systems work fairly for both businesses and residents. We strongly encourage anyone with an interest in these issues to contribute via the Call for Evidence.

You can respond online on the GOV.UK Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/reforming-the-licensing-system

The deadline for responses is midday on 6 November 2025. The call for evidence focuses on those proposals where the Taskforce indicated there is potential for the greatest benefit. Other proposals, including some Taskforce recommendations, will be considered further in due course and consulted as appropriate.

Department for Business and Trade