10/06/2026
📢 VATS THE PROBLEM 📢
We need your help 💛
Hospitality has never been more difficult to keep alive than it is right now.
People are spending less. Costs are rising everywhere. And hospitality businesses in the UK are facing one of the highest VAT rates in Europe.
Since opening our doors just 8 months ago, we've had to absorb increases in almost every area of the business:
⚡ Utilities
👩🍳 Wages
📈 Employer NI Contributions
🥓 Produce & ingredients
🏢 Business Rates
🧽 Cleaning supplies
📦 Packaging
☕ Coffee & consumables
🔧 Equipment maintenance
The reality is simple.
We can keep increasing our prices and risk losing even more customers, or we can campaign for change that gives hospitality businesses a genuine chance of survival.
What many people don't realise is that most of the ingredients we buy are zero-rated for VAT. We take those ingredients, employ local people, pay local suppliers, create something wonderful for our community to enjoy... and then 20% VAT is added to the final sale.
There is very little for cafés and restaurants like ours to reclaim, which means every quarter a significant portion of what we've worked hard to earn disappears.
Sales have already become noticeably tougher since April, and we know we're not alone.
We're asking for hospitality VAT to be reduced to 10%, bringing the UK more in line with many of our European neighbours and giving independent businesses a fighting chance.
🙏 Please support the campaign.
The link is below and in our bio and takes less than 30 seconds to sign.
Thank you for supporting independent hospitality, not just Squirrels, but cafés, restaurants, pubs and hospitality businesses across the country 🫶🐿️
www.vatstheproblem.co.uk
