Hundreds more pubs will CLOSE without slashing booze tax & scrapping smoking ban, bosses warn

BOOZER bosses have pleaded with ministers to save more pubs from collapse – by slashing red tape, easing taxes, and axing the outdoor smoking ban. 

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy was presented with demands from hospitality chiefs who warned they are now making just 12p profit per pint.

She insisted she understood the danger of more locals going bust – hailing them as a “lifeline” for many in the community.  

Many struggling venues are desperately hoping for some support from Chancellor Rachel Reeves at the October 30 Budget.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, boozers were grappling with a triple whammy of increased bureaucracy, business rates and booze duty.

And she added that Labour’s plans to ban smoking in pub gardens – first revealed by The Sun – had left her “stumped”.

She said: “It’s going to make this very difficult to keep trading at the levels we’ve got. And it’s already incredibly difficult for us to be making a profit.

“Some 35 per cent of hospitality businesses are not currently making a profit. When you’re not making a profit, you can’t keep losing another 10 per cent.”

In the election campaign Ms Reeves all but hinted she would keep alcohol duty frozen. 

At the event on Tuesday, Ms Nandy insisted the government was determined to create “a good environment for businesses and for pubs to thrive”. 

She added: “For me, a pub is more than just an economic asset. In my own constituency, often for older people, it’s the only place that they have a conversation with people in the day and it’s a lifeline. 

“They go there at night, they know the community. We’ve lost a lot of our community spaces over the last few years and it’s been really, really tough.”