UKHospitality Cymru, the sector’s leading trade body, is calling on the Welsh Government to extend business rates support as Welsh hospitality businesses are facing substantial and potentially damaging business rates hikes in 2026/27. They say a lack of government support is threatening the sector’s recovery.
The Welsh Government’s new rating plans have side-lined hospitality, offering a lower business rates multiplier only to the retail sector. This lack of support, combined with the end of Westminster funding, will leave pubs, hotels, and other venues exposed to significant cost increases. A typical high street pub could face an extra £6,800 a year, while a city-centre hotel might see nearly £50,000 added to its annual costs, threatening the sector that is Wales’s second-largest employer.
UKHospitality Cymru is calling on the Welsh Government to extend business rates support and is urging businesses to sign a collective letter to the Senedd before the consultation closes on Tuesday, August 12, 2025. To add your signature, please visit this link.
David Chapman, Executive Director of UKHospitality Cymru, said: “This is a critical issue that will threaten the very existence of pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants across the UK.
“Hospitality must, without a shadow of a doubt, be included in any and every business rates support package, if we are to avoid the sector being taxed out. Failing to recognise and implement support for hospitality would risk the Welsh Government undermining their policy objectives, effectively leading to the gutting of the high street as we know it.
“We urge all hospitality businesses across Wales, large or small, to back our calls for support from Government, by submitting their views to the Senedd before this crucial consultation closes on 12 August.
“It’s vital that not only Welsh hospitality business receive business rates support, but also our counterparts in England and Scotland.”
