An Essex pub owner has described the latest government budget as a “betrayal” to the hospitality industry.
He has issued a scathing condemnation of the government’s latest budget, warning that changes to business rates and property revaluations could force widespread job losses and price increases across the hospitality sector.
Matthew at The Cricketers (Image: Public)
Matthew Alum, who runs three pubs in Essex with his parents – The Cricketers in Fordham Heath, The Crown in Manningtree, and The Alma in Copford – described Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget as a “betrayal” that has left him feeling “stabbed in the back.”
The publican’s strongest criticism centres on undisclosed property revaluations that have dramatically increased rateable values for many hospitality businesses.
At The Cricketers, the rateable value has tripled from £34,500 to £90,000, pushing monthly business rates from £1,043 to £3,200.
The Cricketers in Colchester is all set to pay £620 in business rates every month from April (Image: Public)
“I’m so upset. I literally sat on my computer, looking at these figures, thinking to myself, ‘You literally just stitched us all up’,” said Matthew.
“She’s actually had most business premises up and down the country revalued. So that happens every three years anyway, but we weren’t aware that it was being done.”
While the Chancellor reduced business rate multipliers, Alum points out that the removal of the 40% hospitality discount – previously reduced from 60% when Labour took power – means rates are still increasing substantially even for properties whose valuations haven’t changed.
At The Crown in Manningtree, where the rateable value remained unchanged, monthly rates have jumped from £2,016 to £2,660 due to the removal of the discount.
The pub owner says the increases come at a time when it’s impossible to generate the additional revenue needed to cover rising costs.
“We’re not in growth. Hospitality in decline at the moment. Every pub is in decline,” said Alum.
“That means all I’ve got to take between eight and nine thousand pounds a month more to pay for it. It’s not possible. It’s physically impossible and what it’s going to mean is I’m going to have to have less staff. This is what she’s done – just cost people their jobs, is what she’s just done.”
Alum has already withdrawn recruitment advertisements for two manager positions and is now working 60 hours per week to cover the roles himself – while still facing shortfalls against the increased costs.
“It still won’t be enough to cover the increases in rates, it won’t be enough to cover the increases in the food that is continuously going up. Beef, lamb, turkey, fish, it’s all gone up this week by at least 10%.”
The mounting pressures have taken a personal toll on Alum, who has an 11-month-old baby.
“I am angry. I’ve got an 11-month-old baby. I’m not even getting to see her for Christmas because I can’t afford to pay for staff anymore,” he said.
“We’ve not taken anyone else on for Christmas. I’m just doing it myself. I am working start to finish six, seven days a week.”
Alum is urging other business owners to check their new rateable values immediately, as many may be unaware of revaluations until they receive updated bills.
He plans to challenge the revaluation with support from his brewery, though he remains pessimistic about the outcome.
Alum believes the government’s policies suggest it wants to see the hospitality sector shrink, despite it being the fifth-largest employer in the country.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: PA)
“We as an industry family believe she wants us gone because hospitality is probably the fifth largest employer in the country, yet here are 100,000 less people in it since they came to power. A hundred thousand less people have got jobs.
“Most of them are mums that are just doing a couple of hours while the kids are in nursery. Most of them are university students. Most of them are people just trying to get by in life before they go on to the next thing. And now they can’t get jobs.”
“My auditor said to me ‘I have never known landlords so stressed and I have never known them having to work so many hours as now. It’s worse than it was back in 2008 recession.'”
Beyond business rates, Alum highlighted other mounting pressures on the hospitality sector, including increases to alcohol duty due in February, rising National Insurance contributions, and pension contributions that “basically makes staff unemployable.”
He also criticised the government’s approach to minimum wage increases, arguing they push workers into higher tax bands without genuinely improving their situations.
He noted that salaried workers aren’t receiving comparable pay increases, limiting customers’ spending power.
Alum accused the chancellor of lying to the nation about inflation and job creation.
“When she says inflation’s down, she lied. It’s not. When she says she’s creating jobs and putting more money in workers’ pockets, she lied. She stabbed everybody in the back, she betrayed the nation.”
“She promised help, and she just literally stood there and hung us out to dry.”
Looking ahead, Alum warned of inevitable consequences for the sector: “There will be empty premises and empty pubs.”
“You can’t grow a business by continuously putting your prices up. People haven’t got any more money.”
Councillor Sara Naylor, who represents Eight Ash Green and is the opposition lead for economic growth at Colchester City Council, said:
“It is dangerously destabilising for the British economy to have an inept chancellor who tries to save her own skin by rolling pub landlords like Matt at The Cricketers under a bus. Matt’s business rates tripled overnight. Pubs are desperate for a government that understands business and jobs. The Conservatives pledge to scrap business rates for 250,000 shops, pubs, hotels and restaurants – a vital lifeline for pub landlords.”
