Reeves's budget tax rises 'a pub destroyer', say landlords

Reeves's budget tax rises 'a pub destroyer', say landlords The combination of business rates soaring, wage increases and beer prices rising has pub landlords over a barrel, they say. Image:Mark and Michael Ambrose, father and son co-landlords of The Barking Cat, said the increases are a 'pub destroyer' Image:Michelle Smith, landlady of The Poole Arms, said all her prices are going up Tuesday 23 December 2025 02:52, UK A millionaires' playground, Poole in Dorset boasts some of the most expensive properties in the UK, and has been called Britain's Palm Beach. Away from the yachts and the mansions of Sandbanks, however, Poole is also a beer drinkers' paradise, with 58 pubs in the parliamentary constituency alone. But now many of Dorset's pub landlords have joined a bitter backlash against rises in business rates of up to £30,000 in Rachel Reeves's November budget . Across the UK, it is claimed up to 1,000 publicans have even banned Labour MPs from their pubs, after the chancellor axed a 40% rates discount, introduced during COVID, from next April. The row over the rises, brewing since the budget, came to a head in a clash between Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer in the final Prime Minister's Questions of 2025. "He gave his word that he would help pubs," said the Tory leader. "Yet they face a 15% rise in business rates because of his budget. Will he be honest and admit that his taxes are forcing pubs to close?" The PM replied that the temporary relief introduced during COVID - a scheme the Conservatives put in place and Labour supported, he said - had come to an end. "But it was always a temporary scheme coming to an end," he said. "We have now put in place a £4bn transitional relief." But in the Barking Cat Ale House in Poole, facing an increase in business rates of nearly £9,000 a year, the father and son co-landlords fear the rises could mean last orders for many pubs. "We're sort of in the average area at 157%, but we've got a lot of local pubs that are increasing by 600%, and another one by 800%," Ambrose senior, Mark, told Sky News. "It's a pub destroyer. Pubs can't survive these kinds of increases. It's not viable. Most pubs are just about scraping by anyway. If you add these massive increases your profit margins are wiped out. Be the first to get Breaking News Install the Sky News app for free "We struggle as it is. You can't have that kind of increase and expect businesses to succeed. "Fortunately, the customers understand. But they still don't want to have to spend an extra 30 or 50 pence a pint." Son Michael added: "It's all back to front. It's really these bigger pub companies and supermarkets that need to be facing increased taxes. We can't handle them. They can." Michelle Smith, landlady of the Poole Arms, the oldest pub on the town's quay, dating back to 1635, said:...

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