British pubs introduce 9pm closing time after Treasury Secretary Reeves’ tax raid.
Higher national insurance bills in particular are pushing pub landlords to cut opening hours in a bid to keep pubs afloat.
Pub landlords say they have introduced last orders earlier in the evening to offset extra costs imposed on them by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves in the October Budget, writes The Telegraph.
This is one of several attacks on British pub culture the British have experienced since Labour took power in July. First, Starmer & co proposed to ban smoking in outdoor restaurants.
Subsequently, the government introduced new rules that effectively transformed pub hosts and staff into «offence police».
Back in October, Document wrote that many British pubs have already given up and are closing at breakneck speed due to the energy crisis, inflation and the Net Zero hysteria.
The Islamisation of England in particular has also been the death knell for many pubs. In some parts of London, there is not a single pub left.
Brian Whiting owns several rural pubs in the south-east of England. He says he has started closing at 9pm instead of 11pm during the week, after his business was hit with extra annual costs of £190,000.
– I’ve been in business for myself for 25 years, and I think this has been the hardest thing for the hospitality industry ever, he says.
Phil Thorley, owner of Kent-based pub group Thorley Taverns, is even harder hit. He says the increase in national insurance contributions alone will mean an extra £400,000 a year for his business.
– That’s £8,000 a week in perpetuity. So we have to make changes.
The hospitality industry is struggling after Reeves increased National Insurance contributions and lowered the threshold for paying them from £9,100 to £5,000.
This disproportionately affects the hospitality industry due to the large number of part-time and low-paid workers in the sector.
The problems are compounded by the fact that the Labour government has increased the minimum wage by 6.7%. This is a classic socialist policy intended to boost the wages of low-paid workers. In practice, however, this only results in businesses going under and employees going from low income to no income.
Businesses that are particularly affected are shops and catering establishments. Young people with no work experience are particularly affected.
– That drop in the National Insurance threshold has affected me enormously. I’m very proud that we are often the first job for many young people. But is it a false economy now? says pub landlord Whiting.
– Now, when wages have gone up dramatically, as an employer you get a lot more value for money with employees who are a bit older.
This makes it much harder for young Brits to enter the labour market. Students who need a second job to make ends meet will also be hit hard.
This is, of course, worst for students and young Britons who don’t come from wealthy families. The attempt to help those on the lowest incomes thus hits those on low incomes the hardest.
29 per cent of UK pubs say they plan to reduce opening hours.
Even the dogs are well catered for at The Millstream. Photo: TripAdvisor
Pub culture is an important part of British culture and history, and Brits are reacting with fury in the comments section below the article. Here are just a few examples:
– It’s a big joke. 1p cut in alcohol duty on a pint. It really makes a big difference when you’re paying £7 per pint instead of £7.01.
– They want to kill pubs as social meeting places, keeping people at home and preventing them from mixing so they can’t discuss how badly the country is run.
Still, it’s over four years until Labour has to hold another general election.
