Burnham means business: PM slashes business rates bills for pubs, clubs and live music venues

Continuing his drive to build an economy that works for every postcode, the Prime Minister has taken action to cut business rates bills for pubs, social clubs and live music venues across England from April next year.

For too long, the pubs, social clubs, and live music venues that form the backbone of local high streets have been replaced by boarded up windows and for sale signs.

Today’s announcement forms part of the Government’s wider plan to drive good growth in every postcode by reducing the burden on local businesses, boosting investment on high streets and helping communities to thrive.

New business rate cuts will benefit nearly 32,000 pubs, clubs and live music venues, saving the typical pub an estimated £1,100 in the next financial year, providing much-needed certainty for businesses looking to invest, grow and create jobs.

Today’s changes will be fully funded, including through reviewing reliefs for businesses that do not make a positive contribution to local communities, such as vape shops.

The Government will also crack down on businesses that sell through online marketplaces but do not comply with their tax obligations, putting them at an unfair advantage over businesses that play by the rules.

The Government is consulting on measures to make online marketplaces more responsible for preventing non-compliant sellers from avoiding their tax obligations and further detail will be set out in due course. Revenue raised from these reforms will be reinvested in improvements to the business rates system.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

For too long, governments have stood by while cherished venues have disappeared from our local high streets. So today I am changing that.

This government will back the businesses that people want to see in their communities. I said I would protect pubs and local high streets – the beating heart of our communities – and that’s what we will do. What we’re announcing today is just the start as we work to bring back hope across the country.

Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey said:

Pubs, clubs and live music venues are at the heart of communities across the UK. They help make a place what we love. They bring people together, support local jobs and help keep high streets and town centres busy — which is why we will back them all the way.

We are determined to bring hope back, give businesses the support they need and generate growth in every postcode.

This is just one step of the Government’s plans to back our communities and high streets and we will return to our commitment to reform the wider business rates system, including Small Business Rates Relief, at the Budget.

Additional information:

• The consultation on extending VAT online marketplace liability to combat non-compliance can be found here: Extending VAT online marketplace liability to combat non-compliance – GOV.UK
• This package of support is worth around £100 million a year.
• This government has already begun the work to reform the business rates system throughout this Parliament. At Budget 2025, Rachel Reeves announced a permanent 5p cut in the business rates multipliers for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties, funded by a higher multiplier for the most expensive 1% of properties.
• At the same time, the government announced £4.3 billion of support to help keep bills down for those seeing increases in their rateable values at the revaluation. This meant capping bill increases at 15% for most businesses from April earlier this year, or £800 for the smallest, as pandemic-era reliefs came to an end and new revaluations took effect.
• In recognition of the pressures pubs and live music venues have been under in recent years, a 15% relief off their 2026/27 bill was announced in January, with bills frozen in real terms for a further two years. The additional 20% cut for pubs, clubs and live music venues from 2027/28 comes on top of this existing support.
• To target support where it is most needed, the government will not be making the new 20% discount available to the very largest live music venues, details will be set out at the Budget.

source: GOV