The hospitality sector is being shafted. Once the backbone of communities, pubs across Britain now see themselves as collateral damage in a tax-and-spend game masterminded by this Labour Government.
The bribes of the lowest hospitality taxes since 1991, the promises to slash business rates, all lies, all empty rhetoric. Because what’s really happening is that costs are piling up, profits are evaporating, and small independent pubs are being left to die.
Let’s call it out: the latest British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) survey says only one in three pubs is profitable right now. And come April 2026, if nothing significantly changes, fewer than one in ten pubs expect to remain in the black… that’s right, less than 10%.
Why? Because the Government has saddled the industry with a triple whammy,
No Labour MPs are welcome in my pub after triggering this extinction-level event - Adam Brooks
|Getty Images
Employer National Insurance contributions cost up. Minimum wage hikes again, and the real killer: business rates bills are skyrocketing. The relief was slashed to 40 per cent, and from April 2026, the promised “reform” translates to huge price hikes on valuations for many, not relief.
Despite the pledge to overhaul business rates, the reality for pubs is the opposite: a meltdown. The math doesn’t lie… many pubs will now pay on average a 65–76 per cent increase in their business rates bill.
Even worse, fewer than one in 10 pubs expect to remain profitable by April 2026 unless they slash staff, cut services, raise prices, shorten opening hours - or simply shut up shop.
Let’s be frank here, there’s no meat left on the bone. On a pint, the core unit of the pub business, most publicans are working on razor thin margins. Some have estimated profits as low as 12p–15p per pint.
That’s before you factor in predicted future rises in energy bills, maintenance, staffing, licensing, compliance, and now the monstrous business rates bill.
Why in god’s name would anyone want to own or run a pub under these conditions? You tell me. It makes no sense. You risk your house, your savings - for what?
The honour of paying taxes for a Government that promised relief, which then delivered a wrecking ball.
For many local pubs, this isn’t just a rough patch. It’s existential. And that’s exactly why the industry is now turning its back on this government.
Because when a government claims it’s “on your side”… but hits you with back-to-back blows that strip your skin, shrink your margins, and leave you totally exposed - you don’t buy that spin anymore. You simply walk away.
Because we, the pubs, the kitchens, the staff, the communities, are done with getting messed around. We’re printing up those “No Labour MPs” signs. We’re standing in solidarity with every pub owner and tenant who’s had enough.
Because this Labour Government has shown exactly who it works for. Not local pubs, not working people, but whoever pockets the biggest tax haul. Not us.
I’ll be going down to my own pub as soon as I hit save on this article.
No Labour MPs welcome.
You’re destroying us.
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