Tesco boss lends weight to calls for business rates support for pubs

The boss of supermarket giant Tesco has given his support to pubs over “unfair” property taxes amid mounting pressure on the Government to support the sector in the face of massive business rate hikes.

Chief executive Ken Murphy has called on the Government to completely overhaul the business rates system, which be branded “fundamentally unfair”.

He said the group “would absolutely advocate that the rates system is reformed for everybody, including pubs” and is a strong supporter in campaigning “on behalf of the hospitality sector for a fairer rates system”.

He said while retailers pay a disproportionate amount of business rates, pubs and hospitality firms have been hit particularly hard by the recent changes announced at the autumn budget.

He said: “They are suffering from the end of the Covid era relief that they had… and their rates bills are also going up.

“I believe that the Government needs to look at a rates system overhaul.”

The supermarket sector narrowly avoided further business rates pain at the recent November 26 budget.

But Mr Murphy pointed out that the retail sector has about 5% of the rateable properties in the UK, but “pays 20% of the rates bill”.

Tesco is one of the largest rate-payers in the UK, with a bill of around £700 million a year.

He said while the group’s rates bill “didn’t go up” as a result of the recent changes confirmed in the budget, “they didn’t go down either”.