The government has announced a support package for pubs that will give venues across Putney some relief from looming business rates increases, though industry figures say it falls far short of what’s needed.
From April, pubs in England will receive a 15% cut to their new business rates bills, with bills then frozen in real terms for a further two years. The average pub will save £1,650 in 2026/27, with the government claiming 75% of pubs will see their bills fall or stay flat.
The announcement comes a week after we revealed eight Wandsworth pubs ranked among London’s 100 most at risk from the combined impact of new property valuations and the abolition of pandemic-era relief.
Among them is the Bricklayers Arms on Waterman Street, Putney’s oldest pub, which faces its rateable value rising from £15,500 to £40,500, an increase of 161%. The 200-year-old pub was saved from permanent closure during COVID by landlord Chris Walsh and a crowdfunding campaign that raised nearly £14,000 from 289 local supporters.
The new relief will reduce the immediate impact, but the trajectory remains clear: pubs that recovered strongly from the pandemic will still pay significantly more than before.
What’s in the package
The government announcement includes a 15% business rates cut from April, a two-year real-terms freeze on bills, and a review of how pubs are valued for tax purposes. Live music venues that operate as pubs will also benefit.
The government will also consult on planning reforms to let pubs add guest rooms or expand without needing local planning permission, and pubs will be allowed to stay open late for Home Nations games in the later stages of the summer’s Men’s FIFA World Cup.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said pubs and high streets needed to thrive to “restore the pride in our communities.”
Hotels and restaurants left out
The relief applies only to pubs and music venues. Hotels, restaurants, cafes and other hospitality businesses are excluded despite facing similar cost pressures.
UKHospitality chief executive Allen Simpson warned that rising business rates affect the entire sector. Hotels face an average 115% increase over three years, compared with 76% for pubs.
“These are not challenges unique to pubs,” Simpson said. “Our hotels, restaurants and cafes, to name a few, all face their business rates bills increasing by thousands.”
The Chancellor said pubs were “in a different situation” to other hospitality businesses when asked why the relief was so narrowly targeted.
Industry reaction mixed
The British Beer and Pub Association welcomed the announcement, saying it would “stave off the immediate financial threat” for many pubs.
But the Campaign for Real Ale called it a “short-term announcement” that fails to deliver the “permanently lower business rates” pubs were promised. Shadow Business Secretary Mel Stride described the measures as “a temporary sticking plaster.”
Dom Jacobs, founder of the Ardent Pub Group in London, called the relief “wholly inadequate,” adding that hospitality “continues to shoulder an excessive tax burden.”
What it means for Putney
The Bricklayers Arms tells the story of many pubs caught by the new valuations. Walsh took over in July 2020, operating from a table outside during lockdowns while he and his family worked to restore the Grade II listed building. The pub reopened in May 2021, just weeks after the April 2021 valuation date that captured it at its lowest ebb.
That timing matters: pubs were valued at their pandemic low point for the outgoing rates list, but at their recovered state for the incoming one. The Bricklayers Arms has since thrived, earning recognition on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors for its preserved 1928 features. Now that success is being used to calculate a tax bill that could nearly triple.
The government’s review of pub valuation methodology, which will feed into the 2029 revaluation, may eventually address this concern. The current system values pubs based on turnover potential rather than property size, which industry bodies say unfairly penalises venues that rebuilt trade after COVID.
But for Putney’s oldest pub, and the 289 locals who helped save it, that review offers no immediate help. The 15% relief softens the blow. It doesn’t change the destination.
