Restore Britain Publishes Major New Policy Paper to Save Britain’s Pubs
- Guild Secretary
- 22 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Restore Britain today launches Restoring the British Pub: Measures for Preserving the Heart of Britain, a comprehensive policy paper setting out practical, immediately deliverable reforms to halt the rapid decline of Britain’s pubs and hospitality sector.
Since 2000, Britain has lost between a quarter and a third of all pubs, with closures continuing at a rate of roughly one per day. Independent and rural pubs have been hit hardest, accelerating social isolation, weakening local economies, and eroding one of Britain’s most important cultural institutions.
Drawing on industry data, trade body evidence, and first-hand testimonies from publicans, brewers, and operators, the paper identifies the key pressures driving closures: punitive business rates, a 20% VAT burden unmatched in most comparable economies, steep alcohol duties, rising National Insurance costs, high energy prices, and inflexible regulation.
Rather than abstract or ideological prescriptions, Restoring the British Pub advances a focused package of realistic reforms that the current Government could adopt immediately. These include:
Reforming business rates for pubs, including reinstating relief and freezing rateable value increases.
Reducing VAT on hospitality sales to 12.5%, with incentives tied to community events.
Freezing and reforming alcohol duties, expanding draught relief and small producer support.
Extending the Enterprise Investment Scheme to support the reopening and rescue of failing pubs.
Raising the National Insurance threshold for hospitality workers and annualising contributions.
Strengthening hospitality apprenticeships through completion and retention incentives.
Updating licensing rules to support responsible, community-based pub culture.
Introducing clear meat-labelling requirements to support British farming standards.
The paper argues that pubs are not merely commercial venues, but essential civic institutions — places where communities form, young people gain skills, and local economies circulate wealth. Without urgent intervention, we warn, Britain risks losing a defining feature of her national life.
Rupert Lowe, Independent MP for Great Yarmouth and Leader of Restore Britain, says:
“We are seeing increased pressures on pubs reaching an unmanageable level. It is brutal. For many publicans, the rise in business rates later this year will be the final straw. A bitter and upsetting end to businesses which have often been in their families for many generations.
In this paper, we have outlined plausible and realistic solutions that could be implemented today to give the industry a fighting chance. We would go far further if possible, but we wanted to ensure that these policies may actually be deliverable for this Government, at this time.
I sincerely hope that they listen.”
Restore Britain is a cross-party movement founded to advance serious, evidence-based policies in the national interest, outside the constraints of traditional party politics. Restoring the British Pub forms part of its wider agenda to defend Britain’s cultural inheritance, economic resilience, and social cohesion.
ENDS
Restoring the British Pub: Measures for Preserving the Heart of Britain is available in full from Restore Britain.
Interviews and further comment are available on request.
Contact: media@restorebritain.org.uk
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