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IN VIEW


Continued from Page 7


James says: “Rises in the minimum wage are laudable and desirable. But to implement them at the same time as a significant change in national insurance and then add in increasing business rates is just utter folly.


“There seems to be a lack of understanding about how a rural economy works.”


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He believes the need for business rates reform is great and has what he describes as a “easy fix” for the sector. “Make the national insurance contribution sector specific. Hospitality is traditionally where people get their first job, an introduction to work. To encourage people to take people on, why not make the NI for the first year of employment zero?”


Despite all the challenges Bowland Inns and Hotels is continuing on its growth journey. When we speak James is on the cusp of sealing a deal to buy Guy’s Thatched Hamlet out of administration.


He is looking forward to the challenge and has big plans for the canalside venue. He says: “We see it as a great opportunity. We can sit here and take it on the chin and watch what we have created slowly disappear or we can continue to fight to grow our business. We have chosen the latter.”


Rick Bailey


The valuation model used for pubs will also be reassessed. Mr Tomlinson said pubs had not had the support they have needed “for too long”.


Those moves have been welcomed. Rick Bailey is executive chairman at Daniel Thwaites. From its headquarters in Mellor Brook it brews beer and operates pubs as well as a collective of hotels, inns and spas. He is also chairman of the IFBB (Independent Family Brewers of Britain).


He says: “At last the government has done the right thing – it has listened to industry and had the courage to reverse the damaging increases to pubs business rates due from April with a heavyweight and meaningful proposal.


A lot of people are throwing the towel in, because they are just exhausted. Every pub that


closes means less tax for the government and less employment in local communities


There has been some respite for hospitality, but not for all. Every pub in England will get 15 per cent off its business rates bill from April after the government move to try and ease some of the pressure.


Their bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years. Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson told the Commons: “This support is worth £1,650 for the average pub, just next year.”


“The announcement provides a breathing space for pubs. Importantly, the clarity provided for the next three years restores hope and gives landlords the certainty that they need to plan for the future.


“Once people have worked through the numbers I think overwhelmingly there will be a sense of relief for landlords who had feared for their businesses and the future.”


Frankly Speaking


OUR VISITOR ENGINE HAS BEEN STALLED By Frank McKenna,


Downtown Lancashire in Business


The tourist and visitor economy is under pressure, and that is bad news for Lancashire. The county needs its hospitality sector firing on all cylinders because the numbers really matter.


In association with:


Last year the county’s visitor economy generated around £5.4bn in economic value and supported more than 57,000 full-time equivalent jobs. That’s not a side hustle. That’s a pillar of the regional economy.


From Preston to Blackpool, through every market town and coastal community, hospitality is infrastructure. Pubs, hotels, restaurants and venues drive footfall, sustain supply chains and create first-job opportunities for thousands of young people.


Take Blackpool alone: nearly £2bn in annual economic impact and more than 23,000 jobs supported by tourism and hospitality. When businesses struggle there, the shockwaves travel across Lancashire.


Justine Bedford


However, he adds: “Pubs do not need any more headwinds, and unnecessary talk of interfering in the drink drive limits and legislating over low and no products now need to be consigned to the bin to allow pubs to recover.”


The calls for more to be done to help the wider hospitality industry – including extending rates relief - continue to be loud. Kate Nicholls, who chairs UKHospitality, warns: “The rising cost of doing business and business rates increases is a hospitality-wide problem that needs a hospitality-wide solution.”


Justine Bedford is owner of The Royal Dyche in Burnley. It was named Pub of the Year in the recent Lancashire Tourism Awards, the latest in a string of accolades.


Justine, who bought the pub in 2018, is an ambassador for the British Institute of Innkeeping and urges the government to do much more to support the British pub.


Things she would like to see include the overhaul in the business rates system promised before the election and a reduction in VAT. Justine adds: “Pubs are a massive part of British culture but face some of the highest taxes in Europe.


“It’s tough, we are constantly reinventing ourself, thinking outside the box to put on events that will attract people, who continually expect more and want to be entertained.


“A lot of people are throwing the towel in, because they are just exhausted. Every pub that closes means less tax for the government and less employment in local communities.”


But here’s the uncomfortable truth: operators are being squeezed by policy as much as by market forces.


Rising wage costs, sky-high energy bills, business rates that feel detached from commercial reality, and a tax burden that treats hospitality like a cash cow rather than a growth engine. All of it adds up.


If central government is serious about levelling up and regional growth, it needs to change direction. That means meaningful business rates reform, a more competitive VAT regime for hospitality, and a regulatory environment that backs enterprise instead of boxing it in.


The knock-on effect of inaction is obvious: closures, lost jobs, declining high streets and fewer reasons for investors to back Lancashire.


If we want vibrant town centres and a confident visitor economy, we need national policy that matches local ambition. Otherwise, the £5.4bn question becomes: how much are we prepared to lose?


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