‘Dwarfed by other costs’ – Why cutting business rates for pubs won’t save the sector Hospitality Andy Burnham has unveiled his long-awaited support for the UK’s struggling pubs, but the hospitality industry is contending with far more pressures than just business rates Andy Burnham’s pledge to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues is expected to save each venue more than £1,000 next year in a move that comes [...]
‘Reason to be optimistic’: Hospitality bosses say World Cup a lifeline for pubs Hospitality Pub bosses are hoping for a much-needed boost from the World Cup this summer, as the hospitality industry warns of a crushing tax and cost burden. Leading pub chains Greene King and JD Wetherspoon have told City AM they are hoping for a “useful boost” to counteract the “layering of costs” they have faced in [...]
No, a pint does not cost £10 in London (see for yourself) Hospitality Headlines appeared over the weekend that a London pint now costs £10. This leaves a bitter taste. Granted, look hard enough and you’ll find a private members’ club here, a chichi restaurant there, that has found customers with deep enough pockets to pay a fortune for supermarket lager. But this has always been true – [...]
Pubs to open late during World Cup – a life raft for hospitality? February 24, 2026 Though the Labour government and the country’s thousands of pub landlords have very rarely seen eye-to-eye in recent months, the World Cup could bring a summer truce to this fiery dispute. Hospitality trade bodies and one of the country’s biggest pub chains have told City AM they welcome the government’s move to allow pubs to [...]
Minimum wage is lowering standards of living, argues Wetherspoons boss February 21, 2026 The founder and chairman of budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon has warned that minimum wage is making lowering people’s living standards by limiting companies’ ability to increase pay and hire. Sir Tim Martin argued that rather than serve as a safety net to protect workers, minimum wage is now doing more harm than good, following [...]
Pub closures reach new high as hospitality braces for Budget November 6, 2025 Pubs and bars are closing at the fastest rate seen this century, fresh City AM analysis has found, as rising costs squeeze many in the hospitality sector to the point of collapse. The number of British pubs and bar businesses appointing liquidators or administrators surged to 449 in the first 10 months of the year, [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Next sales jump; GSK profit upgrade October 29, 2025 Good morning from the City AM liveblog team. If there are fears about an AI bubble, no one’s telling the folk over on Wall Street. Yesterday both Apple and Microsoft saw their stocks jump, making them both $4tn companies, joining an exclusive club of which chipmaker Nvidia is the only other member. This was the [...]
Greene King vs Spoons: Who is winning the great British pub battle? May 20, 2025 There are few well-populated areas of the UK where you can’t find either a Greene King or JD Wetherspoon pub. The two titans of the British pubs industry together operate thousands of locations each across the country and are staples of most urban areas. Both are major contributors to the UK economy – providing employment [...]
Wetherspoon, Marston’s and Young’s manage to fend off UK pubs crisis – for now May 13, 2025 Some of the UK’s biggest pub chains – JD Wetherspoon, Marston’s and Young’s – have all proved surprisingly resilient in avoiding the hospitality crisis predicted last Autumn. The London-listed companies have all reported better-than-expected trading over the last year, despite very low business and consumer confidence. In an update to markets this morning, Marston’s reported [...]
Wetherspoons fails to prove cider is not alcohol in tax dispute April 24, 2025 Budget boozer Wetherspoons unsuccessfully argued cider did not fall within the meaning of 'alcoholic beverages' in a VAT dispute with HMRC