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.
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Trade body UKHospitality (UKH) has urged the government to take action at the upcoming Budget to protect jobs and restore confidence in the hospitality sector.
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Trade body UKHospitality has called for action ahead of the upcoming Budget in an open letter backed by 345 hospitality businesses.
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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.
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At 1.2kg, the bottle on the table was heavy enough for it to be hard to tell how much wine was in it. But as chief winemaker Ana María Cumsille explained, the biggest market for Viña Carmen Gold, the Chilean producer’s top cuvée, was China, and consumers there “associate weight with quality”. A few weeks later I related this story to a manager at Ardagh glass in Barnsley as I toured their bottle factory. He joked: “We could get three out of one of those!” – and indeed the bottles coming off the production line in front of us weighed just 400g or less.
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Fresh figures from HMRC’s latest alcohol duty receipts (published 19 September) show that revenue is down -4.3%. This will frustrate many in the drinks industry who faced a February hike of wine and spirits duty.
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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.
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UKHospitality has projected that a total of 111,000 hospitality jobs will have been lost by the Budget on 26 November.
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What is the point of a business? Who is it for? The people who started it, those working in it, the investors, the customers? The answer is all of those and more, but the core responsibility for defining the point (and it is quite a responsibility) lies with the owners and senior managers.
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UKHospitality, the trade body for hospitality which represents over 750 companies in the UK, has backed the Scotch Whisky Association’s (SWA) call for the UK Government to freeze alcohol duty in the Autumn Budget.
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The Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has published a ‘go-to guide’ for the industry, aimed at helping policy makers and politicians “better understand” the UK wine and spirit market.
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UK Hospitality has warned the Prime Minister that hospitality is in danger of being taxed out, with the sector having lost 69,000 jobs since the Budget.
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A new survey from the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) can reveal that three out of four whisky companies expect to defer investment (or invest outside of the UK) due to the high tax burden upon them.
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Figures from across the drinks trade have reacted to the introduction of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation which came into effect today (1 April). The new policy which was intended to introduce a “polluters pay principle” regarding packaging waste has faced significant backlash from the drinks industry due to a series of perceived flaws.
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The trade has expressed its disappointment that no relief for businesses will be forthcoming via Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement, as the industry continues to face a roster of tax hikes from the last Autumn Budget.
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The first Labour-backed Budget of the new government is expected to have a significant impact on the balance sheet of popular pub group J D Wetherspoon, just as the company was on track to return to steady growth.
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The new digital service from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ‘Manage your Alcohol Duty’, which went live on 1 March, is purported to allow for easier reporting and online payment services regarding alcohol duty.
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Data from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) can reveal that 63% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) saw taxation as their primary business challenge. The data, which was gathered following the Autumn Budget, represents an increase compared to Q3 of 2024 when 48% of business owners saw it as their primary challenge.
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The government won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because it gets them from the OBR. The OBR won’t talk to the trade about its assumptions on duty receipts because its only customer is the government. You couldn’t make it up.
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With the end of duty easement now nigh-on a certainty, in the second of our two-parter the WSTA’s Miles Beale swings the focus on to other major issues that lie ahead.
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