The country pub facing a 2,000pc rise in business rates value

A village pub faces financial ruin over a 2,000 per cent surge in its business rates valuation triggered by Rachel Reeves’s tax raid.

The Bertie Arms in Uffington, Lincolnshire, will be hit with the largest percentage increase in estimated business rates value of any pub in the country, according to analysis for The Telegraph. This would land it with a £17,000 tax bill from 2029.

Katie and James Genever, the landlords, said the change would almost totally wipe out the profits at their thatched village pub, which is grade II-listed.

Mrs Genever, a former nurse, said: “It just feels like we are being targeted and come at from every angle. Hospitality is being whacked from all sides and used as a cash cow.

“That £17,000 is the little bit of profit that we make to replace windows or put new carpet down. We certainly won’t be employing any more staff or looking to expand without the confidence that things are going to change.

“I think we’ll be okay for a couple of years, but if this continues I can’t see myself wanting to work 60 or 70 hours a week to not make any money at all.”

The pub, which was built in 1681 and has been owned by Mr and Mrs Genever since 2017, is set to pay business rates for the first time in April because of the Chancellor’s tax raid on pubs, which will end pandemic-era rates relief for hospitality venues.

Ms Reeves is preparing a major climbdown on the changes announced in her Budget last year following a campaign by The Telegraph and backlash from her own MPs.

But as things stand, Mr and Mrs Genever will see their rateable value, a key factor in determining the size of rates, increase from £2,250 to £46,000 this year. That would be the highest rise of any pub in England and Wales according to Ryan, a tax firm.

Mr Genever said the increase would leave them paying £17,000 in rates from 2029 onwards. Until then, the annual rise in their rates bill would be capped at £800 under the supporting small business (SSB) tax relief measure.

The pub made £20,000 in profit last year, meaning the rates bill could force it out of business, the Genevers said. That would deprive the Treasury of the nearly £200,000 it paid in VAT, National Insurance (NI) and corporation tax during the same period.

Mr Genever said: “It will leave us with nothing for a rainy day or repairs, or anything like that. We have a net turnover of about £1m and the Government have had £200,000 on top.

“We’re paying so much tax already. The actual disposable profit at the end of the day is peanuts compared to what we’re paying in tax. Now they’re chasing us for another £17k, and that might break us.

“With that they would suddenly lose their £200,000 worth of tax altogether. They could end up finding themselves an awful lot worse off. We’re employing an awful lot of people and putting quite a lot of cash back in people’s pockets to spend in the local community as well.”

Mrs Genever added: “If these MPs had to run their own businesses, they would all be bankrupt. They don’t seem to be able to look any further than the end of their nose or see what it takes to actually run a successful business.”

One pub closed each day on average in 2025 and almost 2,000 have called last orders in the past five years, according to Ryan. But on Monday, Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, said the Chancellor did not know the tax raid would affect pubs so badly.

Pubs have faced a string of cost increases under Labour, including higher NI contributions and the rising minimum wage. They are also battling soaring energy prices, with UK industry paying more for power than anywhere else in the developed world.

A spokesman for the Treasury said: “We’re protecting pubs, restaurants and cafés with the Budget’s £4.3bn support package. Without this support, pubs would face a 45 per cent increase in the total bills they pay next year. Because of the support we’ve put in place, we’ve got that down to just four per cent.

“This comes on top of our efforts to ease licensing to help more venues offer pavement drinks and put on one-off events, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and capping corporation tax.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]