‘We’re running on empty’: little hope in Leicester for help from budget
With business rates due to increase, VAT going up, energy prices on the rise and inflation pushing up food and drink costs, pub owner Sam Hagger is dreading the next few months.
“It is going to be catastrophic. There’s no other way to describe it,” says Hagger, the founder of the Beautiful Pubs Collective, which runs three venues in Leicester. “There’s a headwind on the horizon that we can’t deal with.”
That is, he said, unless the government takes action in Wednesday’s budget and three-year spending review. The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, is under pressure to keep VAT for hospitality and tourism – which was slashed from 20% to 5% during the Covid crisis – at its current interim rate of 12.5%, as well as extending the freeze on alcohol duties.
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