Chef and publican Tom Kerridge is urging the hospitality industry to sign a new petition backing VATsTheProblem – a campaign to cut VAT for the sector to 10%.
Read more...
True hospitality consists of giving the best of yourself to your guests,” once observed Eleanor Roosevelt. But after two years of relentless inflation, compounded by April’s increases in wages and business rates, few operators can still afford to be generous. The UK’s beleaguered hospitality sector finds itself at a critical juncture – venues have already streamlined, simplified and raised prices as far as they dare. Yet further increases may be unavoidable, creating the very real risk of significant impacts on footfall and average spend.
Read more...
Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) chief executive Miles Beale used a platform at the opening of this year’s London Wine Fair (LWF) to call for an ongoing and urgent drink and hospitality industry reset with regard to lobbying government.
Read more...
In a letter to the chancellor, UK Hospitality has proposed six measures that the government could implement to help hospitality businesses through increasing energy costs.
Read more...
Against the backdrop of an incredibly challenging chapter for the drinks and hospitality sectors, Brett Fleming, MD of Armit Wines, decries a government that refuses to listen to the trade.
Read more...
The wine and spirits sector has hit back against what the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) called “the UK's uniquely punitive excise duty regime”.
Read more...
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has announced the appointment of former UK ambassador Ian Duddy (pictured) as its next international director.
Read more...
Alcohol-free social impact business Club Soda has launched what it claims is the first ‘benchmarking’ survey of the low, no and mid-strength sector, aimed at gathering data to inform government policymaking. The survey is open to low & no brands, to ensure that they get a voice.
Read more...
Mike Nesbitt, the health minister for Northern Ireland, has said that he will be unable to deliver minimum unit pricing (MUP) before the Stormont election in May 2027, as reported by the BBC.
Read more...
New proposals to introduce a tourist levy in England could deliver a £1.6bn tax hit to consumers while shrinking the wider economy and reducing employment, according to UK Hospitality.
Read more...
The WSTA has called on the government to end the “doom loop” caused by its decision to continue to increase alcohol duty at the last Budget (as Harpers reported).
Read more...
The hospitality industry has reacted to yesterday’s announcement by the government that pubs and music venues would receive a rates relief package costing £80m next year alone (as Harpers reported).
Read more...
The government has revealed a support package aimed at helping pubs and music venues in England, worth £80m.
Read more...
Trying to extract any optimism from the autumn Budget is potentially a fool’s errand. Alcohol duty will increase in line with RPI – a move many in the sector had pleaded with the government not to make. With RPI currently set at 3.66%, according to the WSTA, this will see duty go up 11p on an average bottle of Prosecco, 13p on a bottle of red wine and 38p on a bottle of gin. This, combined with the cumulative strain of the inflationary pressures of the past five years on consumer buying power, will likely continue to inhibit spend on alcohol.
Read more...
HMRC take from the so-called ‘sin taxes’, comprising alcohol, tobacco and gambling, have continued on a downward trajectory, having fallen 35% in the last decade, according to research by leading accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young.
Read more...
New research from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) has found that in the year to August 2025 alcoholic beverages contributed £3 in every £100 of inflation rises.
Read more...
According to trade bodies UK Hospitality (UKH) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) 500 high street retail premises will be at risk of closure if the planned business rates surcharge goes ahead.
Read more...
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) is calling on the government to get rid of plans to raise alcohol duty, to avoid further price rises that will fuel inflation.
Read more...
UKHospitality (UKH) has launched a new online tool for hospitality teams to call on the Government to support the sector by writing to their MP.
Read more...
Audit, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg has called on the government to provide financial support to the UK’s hospitality and retail sector to help businesses survive higher running costs.
Read more...
