Tackle business rates to prevent the death of the High Street, says Mitchells & Butlers pubs boss

The boss of Mitchells and Butlers has warned High Streets ‘are going to die’ without a radical reform of business rates to offset soaring costs from the Budget.

Phil Urban, chief executive of the 1,700-strong pub group behind the Harvester and All Bar One chains, said his company alone faces £100million of extra costs.

Pets at Home also warned of an £18million hit as a warning over profits sent its shares tumbling 17 per cent to a four-year low.

The pain on the High Street follows the Chancellor’s decision to raise National Insurance paid by employers – despite a manifesto pledge not to – and hand out an inflation-busting increase in the minimum wage.

Rachel Reeves failed to deliver on her promise to replace business rates with a fairer system. Instead, she left firms facing higher bills from April. 

The High Street has demanded urgent reform of rates to lessen the shock. ‘High Streets are going to die if they don’t do that,’ said Urban.

The issue has been highlighted by the Mail’s Save Our High Streets campaign.

Reeves has simply launched a ‘conversation’ about what an overhaul would look like – and promised change in 2026.

‘The irony is that any business rates relief we end up getting has been more than offset by change in the National Insurance rate,’ Urban added.

His firm, which employs 45,000 staff, will face pressure to raise prices in a bid to retain workers. 

Urban called Labour ‘naive’ to deprive retail and hospitality of support and whack them with higher costs as they were the sectors hit hardest in the pandemic.

Despite Budget gloom, Urban hailed a return to profit for the year to September 28 after the pub group posted £199million profits against losses of £13million last year due to high energy bills.

His concern was echoed by Pets at Home chief executive Lyssa McGowan, who called the Budget ‘disappointing’ and said she was ‘working through’ whether it would have to lift prices after an £18million hit in employment costs.

A House of Lords report published today also warns ‘revitalising a High Street in crisis is not an easy task’.

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