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Reform our rates: over 600 pubs call on chancellor to modernise unfair tax system

  • Open letter signed by landlords from across England calls for lower business rates multiplier for pubs to provide “breathing space to invest” and remove “heavy burden” 
  • Publicans are also pushing for fundamental reform so business rates are more fairly linked to profit rather than turnover
  • It comes after Greene King identified how a simple change at the Budget could unlock tens of millions of pounds to support the country’s pubs  
  • Parliamentary event on 8 September will bring publicans and MPs together to discuss the proposals

1 September 2025 – Landlords of 613 pubs have signed an open letter to the Chancellor urging her to reform business rates to provide “breathing space to invest” in their pubs. 

The letter calls for a specific, lower business rates multiplier for all pubs at the Autumn Budget, giving them a 20p discount on their current rate. Across Greene King’s managed pub estate, the move could realise £13.7m in immediate annual savings if introduced at the Budget, or an average of £10,000 per pub.

The publicans, who operate 613 pubs owned by Greene King in all corners of England, argue the discount on business rates would “recognise the unique economic and social value pubs bring to communities across the UK” and “provide immediate relief” to their businesses.

Business rates are set to rise for many pubs next year as a result of upcoming property revaluations and the removal of temporary relief. If the Chancellor does not introduce a lower business rates multiplier, publicans are set to pay thousands of pounds more. Some examples include:

  • Hayley Pellegrini, Landlord at The Portland Arms, Cambridge who has experienced a £7,000 increase in business rates at the pub this year. She has had to reduce midweek opening hours and fears that hiring part-time staff “may not even be financially viable” soon because of additional employee costs, such as the reduced threshold for employers’ National Insurance Contributions. She is picking up extra hours herself and says that she’s paying herself less than minimum wage for the hours she’s working.

  • Mark Annear, Landlord at The Cott Inn, Dartington, Devon who has seen his business rates bill jump by 175% from £400 per month in 2024 to £1,100 per month in 2025. Despite previously having won multiple ‘Pub of the Year’ prizes, Mark is struggling to juggle the bills and recently chose not to replace a manager who had departed as he could no longer afford to pay the wages.

  • Dianne Irving, Landlord at The Crown, Carlisle who has had to cope with her business rates increasing by 140%, up from £536 per month in 2024 to £1,287 per month in 2025.

Longer term, the letter also outlines the need for the Treasury to deliver on its promise of delivering fundamental reform of the business rates system, recommending that the Valuation Office Agency calculate pubs’ rateable values on profitability instead of turnover to “better reflect the realities of running a pub and help ease the burden on the sector.”

Nationally, the 39,989 pubs in England and Wales account for just 0.4% of business turnover but pay 2.1% of the national business rates bill. If taxed proportionately, the pubs sector would pay £130 million instead of the £637 million it currently pays.

Chris Windle, Greene King Pub Partner and Managing Director of My Yorkshire Pubs Limited, said: “In recent years, we’ve seen costs rise on everything across each of our five pubs. We’re a small family-run business and are unable to cope with the increases in wages, energy and food that are stretching our bottom line. Even the price of toilet roll has nearly doubled since before the pandemic and our overhead costs are up almost 20%. This year’s reduction in business rates relief is a final straw that risks breaking the bank for us. We need urgent changes from the Chancellor at the Budget to introduce a lower business rates multiplier and ease the pressure on pubs.”

Nick Mackenzie, CEO of Greene King and Chair of the BBPA, said: “Business rates are one of the biggest barriers to growth in the pub sector, placing a disproportionate burden on businesses of all sizes. The widespread support for these proposals shows the transformative impact that they could have, unlocking investment in every corner of the country. We urge the Chancellor to listen to these calls and deliver a lower multiplier for pubs at the Budget as a step towards the promised long-term reform to fix the system and ensure it fairly represents today’s business realities.” 

Some of the landlords that have signed the letter will have the opportunity to meet with MPs to discuss their experiences and the need to change the system at an event hosted by Greene King at Portcullis House in Westminster on Monday 8 September. Greene King has estimated that the two changes it’s proposing to business rates could unlock in excess of £20m a year from Greene King’s 1,500 managed pubs alone.