What does Andy Burnham’s 20% tax cut for pubs and music venues mean for YOU – and will pints and tickets get cheaper?

ANDY Burnham has kicked off his premiership with a major tax cut for pubs and music venues. In a win for The Sun’s Save Our Sups campaign, the new Prime Minister announced a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs and live music next year. Andy Burnham has announced a 20% cut to business rates for pubs and live music venues Credit: Reuters The Sun’s Save Our Sups campaign had been urging the Government to rescue pubs The discount will help out nearly 32,000 businesses and is expected to save a typical pub around £1,100 a year. Business rates are charged on most non-domestic properties like shops, offices, pubs and holiday rental homes. Sign up for the Money newsletter Thank you! Hospitality businesses in particular have been calling for cuts to business rates, saying they are facing an unsustainable tax burden. Pubs have been dealing with skyrocketing costs in recent years, and as a result nearly two pubs closed per day in the first three months of 2026. Meanwhile more than half of small music venues failed to make a profit last year, putting them at risk of closure, according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT). Business leaders and pub owners have been desperately pushing for more Government help and they have finally got some relief. Speaking to The Sun, Wetherspoons owner Sir Tim Martin hailed the cut to business rates as a “small move in the right direction”. But with pint and meal prices creeping up, will the tax break make any difference to your pocket? Most read in Money What difference will it make? Pubs have been hit by rising costs and fear being unable to stay open Credit: Getty Pub owners and industry bodies have praised the tax cuts, with the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) saying it is “sorely needed and hugely welcome”, as well as a “brilliant, bold first step”. “Pubs have paid disproportionately high business rates for years which, on top of all of the other crushing costs, means pubs make just 12p profit on a pint,” it said. Sir Tim Martin said his pub chain is “grateful for the implicit recognition that the hospitality business is over taxed”. However, some have questioned whether it will be enough to keep businesses afloat. Steve Perez, who owns two hotels, told the BBC that while the £1,100 boost will be welcome, it “won’t make any material difference to any pub”. That’s partly because pubs have already seen a huge jump in their business rate costs in the last year. During the pandemic, pubs and live venues had their business rates slashed by 75% to prevent them from going under. But in her Autumn Budget last year, then-Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the discounts would be scrapped in April. After significant backlash from business leaders and MPs, the Government agreed to give a 15% business rates discount in January and promised there would be no increases for two years. That means even with the extra discount announced by Andy Burnham, businesses will still be paying more than they were a couple of years ago. Iain Hoskins, owner of Ma Pub Group in Liverpool, told the BBC: “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but the increases were so huge last year that now we’re sort of chipping away at some of those increases. “We’re not actually… getting better value than we had before. We’re still having to find extra money for these business rates.” On top of that, pubs and live venues have been hit hard by increases to employer National Insurance contributions and the minimum wage. So will pints and tickets be cheaper? Live music venues will also benefit from the business rates cut after struggling for years Credit: Getty For the time being, probably not. A £1,100 discount on business rates is unlikely to be passed on to customers in the form of cheaper prices. It is also unlikely to make too much difference to save venues at risk of going under. But if it’s paired with extra measures to help businesses, it could make a meaningful difference. And industry leaders will now be hopeful the Government is on side to help out the sector further. The BBPA said that to keep the price of a pint affordable, there will need to be a “permanent proper business rates reform, a meaningful draught discount and a cut in beer duty”. The average price of a pint is currently £4.91, up from £3.30 in 2016, according to the BBPA. The UK’s beer duty, which is a tax on alcoholic drinks, is one of the highest in Europe and was raised in line with inflation in February. Businesses have also been calling for a cut to VAT. Sir Tim Martin said: “The biggest disadvantage for pubs versus supermarkets relates to VAT, where supermarkets pay zero on food sales and hospitality venues, including pubs, pay 20%. “This disadvantage is responsible for the ever-widening gap in the price of a pint or meal in a pub compared to a supermarket.” The campaign to cut VAT has also been backed by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge. VAT is a tax added to most goods and services, so it’s charged on every pint, meal and gig ticket sold. It’s currently charged at the standard rate of 20%, but the campaign has called for it to be cut to 10%. That would bring the tax more in line with the European average, which is around 9%. Mr Burnham has previously voiced support for cutting VAT to 10% for hospitality businesses. However it’s most likely that if such a measure will be announced, it would be in the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget later this year. Comment now