‘There were many disappointing omissions from this budget’ – York pubs campaigner

The Campaign for Pubs was co-founded by Paul Crossman, licensee of The Swan, The Slip Inn and Volunteer Arms in York.

After today’s budget, the Campaign called the support measures disappointing, which were not enough to save many pubs.

Paul said: “There were many disappointing omissions from this budget.

“While we welcome measures such as income support for the newly self-employed who were unfairly excluded from previous schemes, we note that directors of limited companies, which will include a great many small pub businesses, and the nation’s small breweries, have still been left out.

“Further grants are welcome, but the restart grants that have been announced will simply be insufficient to enable most pubs to even cover ongoing fixed costs while closed, let alone enable them to restock and reopen.

“Even the furlough scheme, while great for our staff, will continue to carry a cost for struggling publicans, as we will continue to have to find NI and pension payments and to cover holiday entitlement in order to protect jobs.

“The offer of more loans will not appeal to businesses who are already extremely worried about escalating debt.

“This is especially the case for those still facing unreasonable rent demands, which is something the Chancellor failed to address at all, a worry which is compounded by the fact that we were not given the extra full year of business rates relief that we were hoping for.”

You can read the Campaign’s full analysis of the Budget here.