Pubs might present TV soccer the pink card forward of World Cup because of tax raid
Landlords say they will be forced to cancel their Sky Sports and TNT Sports subscriptions due to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s hike in business rates valuations
Landlords have raised the warning(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Pubs could show telly football the red card ahead of the World Cup due to Rachel Reeves’s tax raid, boozer bosses say.
Landlords will be forced to cancel their Sky Sports and TNT Sports subscriptions due to rises in business rates valuations. The sports channels set prices in line with pubs’ rateable values – estimates of what they are worth on the rental market used for calculating business rates.
The Chancellor’s inspectors are revaluing commercial properties across Britain with pubs facing rateable value hikes of up to 2,000% – adding thousands to their tax bills. Those hit by higher rates will also face increased sports subscription costs in a ‘double whammy’.
Michael Kill, chief executive officer of the Night Time Industries Association, said the Government cash grab could hit venues planning to screen England’s World Cup glory bid.
He told the Daily Star: “There is a real danger that many night-time venues will simply no longer be able to afford live football. Linking broadcast subscription costs to sharply rising rateable values creates a perfect storm, particularly for pubs already operating on wafer-thin margins.
“If venues are forced to cancel sports coverage it risks hollowing out community pubs and late-night economies. “This could absolutely affect World Cup venues too, limiting safe, social places for fans to gather and pushing viewing back into homes rather than licensed, well-managed spaces.”
Gary Timmins, real ale body CAMRA’s pub and club campaigns director, said: “The friendly atmosphere of watching major sporting events at your local cannot be replicated at home and is proof that pubs are a vital part of communities. This could soon be a thing of the past as pubs will be squeezed within an inch of their lives by the truly shocking rises in business rates.
“Many will have to take drastic measures to simply stay open, and could be forced to cancel sports subscriptions, and hike prices. The alternative would be to close their doors for good.
“Government needs to announce an immediate U-turn on the outrageous increases to business rates bills and then step up for pubs by cutting VAT on food and drink, scrapping employer National Insurance increases and helping with unmanageable energy bills.”
Paul Sandford, 57, landlord of The Railway Tavern in Dereham, Norfolk, plans to cancel his Sky and TNT subscriptions later this year over a forecast combined annual increase of £7,200.
He said: “We wouldn’t be able to pass it on to the customer so we wouldn’t be able to show it. I’m tied into a contract with 10 months to go. But we wouldn’t have any alternative but to cancel unless Sky and TNT thought about what was happening and made some sort of allowance.
“I would hope they would but otherwise they’re not going to have any venues showing sport. We’re all in the same boat.
“There isn’t a pot of spare money to fund all these extras. We’ve sucked up as much as we can over the last five years but to have the Sky hike thrown at us as well as a rate increase – it’s just not feasible.”
Mr Sandford last year stopped taking a wage from the pub and said the business rates tax raid was set to wipe out its profit margin.
“If nothing’s done it won’t be profitable,” he said.
“We’re on a cusp at the moment where we’re keeping our heads above water.”
A Sky spokesman said: “Rateable value is one of many considerations that inform our pricing decisions.”
TNT Sports had not commented.
