04 Jul 2026
A grassroots hospitality organisation is calling for local support for a national campaign to reduce the amount of VAT paid by pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars and hotels.
Currently hospitality businesses pay 20 per cent VAT on top of running a heated, air-conditioned, regulated, staffed environment, compared to supermarkets proportionately paying just two per cent because of their size and the volume they sell.
Campaign group Save St Albans Pubs wants to see the higher figure reduced to 10 per cent to provide support for the struggling sector, which has also been hit by the hikes in National Insurance Contributions and the minimum wage.
Pubs across the district have been adding their support to the nationwide VAT’s The Problem campaign, which is being promoted by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge.
Save St Albans Pubs co-founder Sean Hughes said: “For years our industry has been taxed to bankruptcy. This campaign will immediately provide support not only to pubs but also to hospitality businesses across St Albans and the UK.
“Do you want to back your favourite venue, help your high street and support local jobs? Then sign our petition to lower the rate of VAT for hospitality to 10 per cent.
“Our pubs, restaurants, cafés, hotels, nightclubs and many more, are at the heart of our communities. They bring people together and bring life to our cities, towns and villages, but they’re under huge pressure from rising costs.
“In the UK, you pay one of the highest VAT rates in Europe. 20 per cent extra in VAT for your meal out or stay away. In France, Spain and Italy, it’s 10 per cent. In Germany? 7 per cent.
“SSAP have long called for urgent reform on tax on pubs. Pubs are an integral part of our city and our community and we feel they are being stretched to barely surviving with the levels of tax imposed on them.
“We need to get the number of signatures over one million so sign, sign, sign!”
St Albans MP Daisy Cooper added her support: “This campaign is a cry for help from a struggling sector that is at the heart of our high streets and I have heard it loud and clear.
“Pubs, cafés and restaurants, in St Albans and across the country, have been hammered by Labour’s jobs tax, botched business rates and rising energy and input costs – driving up costs and driving down footfall.
“That’s why, before the last Budget, I spearheaded Liberal Democrat calls for an emergency VAT cut for hospitality, attractions and accommodation to 15 per cent until April 2027 – fully funded by a new windfall tax on big banks – forcing other parties to adopt similar calls and forcing the Government to put in place a transitional scheme on business rates.
“I’ve also repeatedly called for an assessment of the cumulative impact of the Government’s taxes on the sector, and I’ve challenged the Chancellor on whether the Treasury has started work to model Andy Burnham’s pledge that he would cut business rates by 20 per cent for pubs, clubs and music venues if he became Prime Minister.
“As the MP for St Albans and Treasury spokesperson for my party, I unfortunately haven’t been presented with a costed plan to fund a permanent VAT cut for hospitality to 10 per cent.
“As such, despite me leading national calls for a fully-funded emergency VAT cut for hospitality to 15 per cent, at this stage, I’m not yet able to endorse this bigger permanent call.
“Notwithstanding, I will continue to pressure the outgoing and incoming Prime Ministers to back hospitality and save our high streets.”
To sign the petition and show your support visit https://www.vatstheproblem.co.uk/
