CAMRA calls for rates relief for pubs' diversity

That’s the proposal from the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA’s) chief executive Mike Benner, who was speaking at the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group meeting in Westminster, central London, last week.

Benner explained that other forms of rates relief do not impact enough pubs. He said that the small business rate relief benefits only a small number of pubs because the rateable value (RV) is generally too high. And the mandatory rural rate relief of 50% is limited to an area with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants and an RV below £12,500. These are funded by central Government.

Benner said the new form of relief should be part-funded by central Government and local councils, which can make use of current laws of being able to apply discretionary rate relief.

He said: “What we’re calling for is a new form of dis-cretionary business rate re-lief based on pubs giving
an exceptional community contribution. This set-up will encourage more councils to get involved with the scheme, and we think it’s a very efficient method of providing fiscal support for well-run pubs.”

He added that in the grand scheme of things it would not cost the Government much.

“If you assume that 10% of pubs qualify for this discretionary relief, that’s 5,000 pubs, and if the typical rates bill for those pubs is £10,000, and if 50% discretionary relief is applied, it comes to about £25m. I don’t think that is a lot if we are serious about the contribution that well-run community pubs bring to our society. If you compare it to the £6bn raised in beer duty and VAT, it soon starts to look like a small figure.”

Benner said the basis of CAMRA’s plea comes from the updated Institute for Public Policy Research on the social value of community pubs, which urged the Government to consider 50% business rate relief for
pubs serving as “centres of their community”.