Rachel Reeves’s Budget branded ‘final nail in the coffin’ for British pubs as landlord fears closure: ‘Absolutely awful!’

Hitting out at Ms Reeves’s £26billion tax-hiking Budget, Ms Stewart said: “It’s absolutely awful, it’s just another nail in the coffin for the hospitality sector.

“We are already on our knees. Don’t forget we had Covid and we were trying to claw our way back, and then along comes Rachel Reeves and wrecks us again, it is horrific.”

Highlighting the tiny profit margins her pub is making on drinks, the landlord revealed: “Many pubs across this country are only making 12 pence per pint.

“There is no fast fortune in pubs, and with all the increased 3.6 per cent on duty, rise in energy costs, and increased National Living Wage, it has just become unsustainable.”

Looking at the future of her own establishment, Ms Stewart told host Patrick Christys that both the 2024 Budget and this year’s Budget have impacted her business “massively”.

She said: “It’s massively affecting us, because we’ve seen a downturn in business.

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“People’s drinking habits are changing anyway, and British pubs are at the forefront and are the glue that holds our communities together, but people are not going in them.”

Revealing that pubs are being forced to “get rid of staff” in order to save money, Ms Stewart added: “We’re already trying to pull business back all the time, so we’re fighting against that.

“And then when you’ve got added-on costs, you’re having to get rid of staff.”

Stressing how much the hospitality industry contributes to Britain’s economy, Ms Stewart feared even more job losses and pub closures in the next few years.

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She told GB News: “The hospitality sector generates £26billion a year. It employs hundreds of thousands of people, low-skilled workers, young people, people who are in university, and these people are losing their jobs as well.

“The pubs are finished, they don’t stand an absolute chance, let’s be honest. Because they’ve got no hope of coming back from this.”

Agreeing with Ms Stewart, Patrick revealed his first few jobs were in pubs, and it gave him “incredibly useful” life experience.

He told the landlord: “I was very proud actually that my first three or four jobs were in pubs, and it was brilliant. Obviously, money wasn’t necessarily great, you get a fair bit in tips if you’re doing all right, but the point is, it taught me a bit about work.

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“It taught me about dealing with people, about dealing with customers, about how they were running the business. It was incredibly useful, and it kept me out of trouble as well a little bit in the summer holidays and things like that. So this is a big problem.”

Taking aim at the Chancellor’s Budget, Ms Stewart said the industry is being used as a “cash cow” by the Government.

She fumed: “They’re using every British citizen as a cash cow, and they’re using the hospitality sector as a cash machine that they just want more and more out of, and we have not got it to give, it is not there anymore.

“We can’t sustain these costs that they are adding. 30 per cent of pubs are now at risk of insolvency, and that was before the Budget. Can you imagine what it’s going to be now?”