Regional hospitality summit backs national campaign on business rates

A powerful group of West Midlands hospitality figures will throw its weight behind a national campaign to reform business rates in the UK, writes John Lamb.

And Meriden MP Saqib Bhatti, former president of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), pledged his support during a hospitality sector summit at Nailcote Hall Hotel in Warwickshire.

The group was urged by Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality, to alert the government to the unfairness of the current system and focus on pressing for more frequent reviews.

“We are not going to get anywhere with a campaign that says scrap the lot, ” she told the gathering, which included Andreas Antona, chef/patron of Simpsons restaurant in Edgbaston, Tony Elvin, general manager of Touchwood in Solihull, and Rick and Sue Cressman, of Nailcote Hall.

In his opening remarks, Mr Cressman described the business rates review system as an “absolute farce ”.

Ms Nicholls said: “We must press home the message that we are the only sector that has a turnover element in the assessment of business rates.

“You will get listened to more widely by joining our national campaign. We will work with Chambers of Commerce and other business support organisations to see if there 's a fairer system for business rates.

“UK Hospitality aims to engage with the sector to drive home and reinforce the message that we pay 50 per cent business rates but generate only five per cent of GDP. ”

Both Ms Nicholls and Mr Bhatti said if the business rate burden is to be reduced for hospitality they must demonstrate to the government other ways of replacing the money.

One of the alternatives discussed was reforming the tax for online retailers, many of whom are offshore or only have warehousing operations which attract much lower business rate valuations.

“We need to say to the government that they must nail the online sales tax and capture it in some form. ”

Mr Bhatti recognised that hospitality “has been at the forefront of hardship ” and that in most cases their biggest expense was business rates.

“I want greater transparency over why there is such a big difference between the rates imposed on various businesses. There is a lack of information and transparency can help progress to reform. ”

Mr Bhatti promised to take the hospitality case to the heart of government by seeking talks with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary.

Mr Antona, who was part of a GBCC campaign to reduce VAT for the hospitality sector during the Covid crisis, said: “We must work with UK Hospitality. It 's the obvious answer. ”

High level talks: Delegates at the Nailcote summit with (seated in the foreground, left to right) Rick Cressman, Kate Nicholls and Saqib Bhatti