There was nothing positive in the budget for the pub trade, apart perhaps from the Chancellor saying he would delay a planned rise in drinks duty for the time being - in other words, no change.

This is pretty irrelevant, as big recent price hikes have been inflicted on the hospitality sector by the global brewers that control the bulk of the UK beer market.

However, a valuable lifeline was thrown to pubs in the Autumn Statement on 22nd November 2023 in which the Chancellor announced the extension of Business Rates Relief scheme for hospitality, which provides eligible publicans with 75% relief on Business Rates for 2024/25. This is known as RHL Relief, where RHL stands for Retail, Hospitality & Leisure

For example, a pub with a Rateable Value of £40,000 : Normal Rates payable would be £40,000 x 0.499 (known as the multiplier) = £19,960

RHL Relief Discount (75%), £19,600 x 0.75 = £14,970 Rates due for the year, 2024-2025 = £4,990

Hence a huge savings in this example of nearly £15,000 in the year.

However this will be more than wiped out for a lot of publicans by a further government hike in the Living Wage and the Minimum Wage on 1st April 2024