10/06/2026
What’s all this noise about then…🧐
VAT - Our industry pays one of the highest rates of VAT in Europe and it isn’t fair.
A supermarket makes a pie in a factory and sells it in a shop = no vat
A pub makes a pie in a kitchen and sells it in the pub = 20% vat
When we buy beer/wine/soft drinks etc we pay VAT on it and then we sell it and pay VAT on it! An electrician or a plumber doesn’t. He pays ex vat for the parts and then adds VAT on to the price you pay.
Bills - we all have them! But…from the weekly takings of a pub all the below is deducted:
VAT
Rent & Service Charges
Business Rates
Insurance
Gas & Electricity
Water
Waste collection (no that isn’t covered by our business rates shockingly)
Food produce
Equipment hire & maintenance
Card machine per transaction!
Music licenses
Gardener & flowers
Till systems
Reservation Platforms
Accountancy fees
Cleaners
CO2
Pest Control
Sanitary Bins
Alcohol
Staff Wages
And that’s before you even think about fixing anything that broken, replacing anything that’s stolen, advertising or marketing your business, staff training or before you can even reinvest to add another element or offering to your pub.
The cost of everything has increased and reducing VAT to 10% would help so many businesses. By signing the petition you can help our amazing industry stand a chance. And help save our fantastic pub!
Let’s remember, most people’s first job is a customer facing job… in a pub, a cafe, a hotel, a bar.
Hospitality is one of the biggest employers in the UK
Our children need a part time job to learn how to interact with others, to learn how to work hard and to get that high when the wages are paid and they know they earned that and it’s all theirs.
But we cannot afford to take them on and train them because it costs too much money.
I want to employ young people to teach them how to be in a workplace and then send them off in to the world with skills they will use for the rest of their lives.
If we don’t change things the hospitality industry will be decimated and we all suffer from having nowhere to socialise and share experiences away from phones and our kids won’t learn the basics of face to face interactions!
