Culpeper pub boss: The rates system is not fit for purpose, and it’s not fair

I have my fingers crossed that the U-turn happens, because of the campaigning that UKHospitality has been doing and their work with the government. But those are very, very significant numbers. On a personal level, I’m an optimist — anyone who knows me would say that — but even so, I was not expecting that from the budget, and it’s really impacted our confidence in the government. It’s impacted our confidence in how we understand it, and how it understands us. Why? Because even as government was announcing the changes, they were saying it was a good thing, even though the numbers didn’t make sense. Anyone could see that it would be worse for pubs, with the combined effect of the changes to rateable value [pushing up rates] and the removal of the current business rate relief. They were presenting it as a shining measure to help hospitality, even though it wasn’t actually the case. So you’re left wondering: who’s actually looking into the details? Especially when there is such a disconnect between what is being communicated and what’s actually happening on the ground.