Colwyn Bay pub leaseholder - Budget puts ‘nail in hospitality coffin’

Jeremy Hunt MP confirmed on March 6 that, from April, the amount small businesses can earn before they must register to pay VAT will rise from £85,000 to £90,000.

This will mark the first time this rate has increased in the past seven years, but Pete Hammond, of The Toad, on West Promenade, said VAT is “absolutely killing the industry”.

It comes at a time when the national living wage is also set to rise by nearly 10 per cent next month.

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Mr Hammond said: “Well done, Jeremy Hunt, for nailing another huge nail into the hospitality industry coffin.

“We don’t want the world; all we wanted was to come into line with the rest of the Europe in terms of the VAT we pay. It’s absolutely killing the industry.

“With the minimum wage going up by another 10 per cent in April, how can we carry this over to our menu/drinks prices, that are already at the highest we can charge?

“We, as a hospitality industry, all need to come together and stand up, as this time next year there will be very little or no small or local independent hospitality establishments.”

The Toad re-opened last June, having been shut since the previous September following an arson attack which left the site requiring a full refurbishment.

Staff at The Toad on its re-opening day last June (Image: Pete Hammond)

Mr Hammond’s association with the pub goes back nearly two decades.

Elsewhere in the Spring Budget, Mr Hunt confirmed that the freeze on alcohol duty will continue until February 2025.

He said the tax would otherwise rise by three per cent, and believed the move would benefit 38,000 pubs across the UK.

"We value our hospitality industry and are backing the great British pub," he said.