Night-time Economy

The night-time economy, and the hospitality sector more widely, is the beating heart of our cultural life, bringing to life the places we all call home. That is why this Government have cut draught duty and introduced a fairer, permanent business rates system. We all want our pubs, clubs and restaurants to thrive.

Last month, I met representatives of Bournemouth town centre’s night-time economy at one of the newest additions to our high street, Barbara’s Bier Haus. The sector is incredibly resilient but is grappling with a number of challenges, such as changing consumer behaviour and rising costs. One issue that is common across our hospitality and retail sectors is prohibitively high business rates. Can the Minister update us on the progress that we are making towards business rates reform, and tell us how this will give the night-time economy the security it needs to be prosperous?

I completely recognise my hon. Friend’s point. Last autumn, alongside announcing immediate support for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, the Government published a discussion paper setting out our priorities for wider reform, and I know the Exchequer Secretary has met a wide range of businesses on this subject. We are delivering permanently lower business rates for these sectors, and we will announce further policy details at the Budget in the autumn.

The Kursaal in Southend—the site of the first theme park in Europe—and the Freight House in Rochford were once iconic venues in my community and central to the night-time economy. Over the last 14 years, venues have been forced to close and heritage buildings have been left empty. What steps are the Minister and his Cabinet colleagues taking to protect the iconic heritage and cultural venues that are the backbone of our evening and local economies?

I have missed out on the particular historical gems that my hon. Friend mentions, but my daughter is a big fan of Southend so obviously I agree with him wholeheartedly. And the Government agree with my hon. Friend, which is why last December we announced the largest round of the community ownership fund, awarding £36 million to 85 projects across the UK. In fact, I agree with my hon. Friend so much that my own office is in the rejuvenated Albert Hall in Swansea, which has had previous incarnations as a cinema, a bingo venue and a music venue—but behaviour in that building is much better these days.

Just a few weeks ago, I held a roundtable in my constituency with UKHospitality and hospitality businesses, such as hotels, night-time economy businesses and pubs. It was just after the first national insurance rise payment, which means that those businesses are devastated and are having fewer jobs, fewer apprentices and less investment. What they are worried about, as they look to the future, is whether the Chancellor will be raising taxes again in the coming months. Can the Minister assure my businesses that the Chancellor will not be coming back for more?

What the sector is doing is welcoming the trade deals done by the Government yesterday. What it is worried about is a Conservative party that cannot bring itself to welcome a single trade deal with any country around the world. The party of Robert Peel has turned its back on the entire world.

The Hop Tub in Hurstpierpoint, the Hop Sun in Haywards Heath and the Brickworks in Burgess Hill are three fantastic microbreweries serving the constituents of Mid Sussex. Given the pressures of national insurance and the challenges of business rates, what is the Treasury doing to support these innovative businesses?

I think everybody in this House enjoys the proliferation of microbreweries around the country, which is why the Government are supporting draught beer and cider by knocking 1p off the price of a pint at the Budget last year. It is important not only that we support our pubs, but the brewers who produce the content that is sold in them.

I call the shadow Minister.

Sacha Lord, Labour’s former night-time economy adviser, says that it is tougher for the hospitality industry today than it was even during the pandemic, but the Chancellor is ignoring his advice and pushing ahead with a cocktail of costs that the Night Time Industries Association has called a death sentence for our pubs, bars and clubs. Can the Minister and the Chancellor not see that the future of the industry is fatally undermined by their anti-growth taxation?

What is anti-growth is the Conservative party, which sat over 15 long years of decline and completely unprecedented economic stagnation. Our job is to support the hospitality and leisure sector more generally. That is why we are reducing red tape through the cross-Government licensing taskforce; why we are permanently cutting business rates, moving away from the year-by-year chaotic system put in place by the Conservative party; and why we are engaging all the time with the Hospitality Sector Council.