Skip to main content
Top of the Page
Join BII
Login
Toggle navigation
Join Now
Contact Us
Toggle search
Search
Search
iMIS
Campaigns
Latest News
CEO Updates
BII News Magazine
INNfocus
Share
Share on Facebook
Share on X (Twitter)
Share on LinkedIn
Email
More options
Bookmarks
Google+
MySpace
Reddit
StumbleUpon
Tumblr
Yammer
Vicki & Simon Powell MBII - The Newtown Pippin
A safe, bright and creative space for the local and wider community has been created with hard graft and love by Vicki and Simon Powell MBII, reveals the BII's Hana Rhodes.
Read the full article here.
17.07.2024
BII reacts to the King's Speech
The BII has welcomed the new Government’s focus on economic growth in the King’s Speech today. Pubs play a key role in high streets, towns and cities across the UK, and can quickly unlock growth through local employment, with the right support and investment.
Our pubs already provide essential employment opportunities for all, with skilled jobs and career pathways for everyone, no matter their background or level of academic achievement. With so many people starting their working lives in our pubs, they are key to social mobility, and our sector is committed to the critical importance of professional development, helping to accelerate people from entry level to entrepreneur, running complex and successful businesses.
The introduction of the Skills England Bill and specifically the reform of the Apprenticeship Levy, allowing more flexibility for allocation of training resources for our sector could be key to unlocking opportunities for all. Any reform that allows our pub employers to access short, skilled based courses to support their teams’ development will also enable gains in productivity across the board.
The BII also welcomes the Government’s intention to “seek a new partnership with both business and working people”. Our members, as small business owners are already battling incredibly tough trading challenges, as well as a huge rise in minimum wage rates over the last few years. Further burdens through additional costs and changes to employment conditions in their businesses could mean they are forced to reduce staffing levels and therefore limit growth potential.
Steve Alton, BII CEO commented:
“The new Government’s intentions to remove red tape and bureaucracy from our planning system, as well as reform the Apprenticeship Levy to allow for a more flexible approach to development in our teams, are hugely welcome steps.
“Our sector has always been a place for entrepreneurs and people who make a difference to their communities and teams every day, so to enable further professional development and removing barriers to business growth will help us do even more.
“Our members already recognise the importance of fair wages, but we must impress on Government the need for support and investment in their small, essential businesses at the heart of communities to be able to afford this.
“With no mention of the extension of the Business Rates relief due to end in March 2025, they now need an assurance that this will be continued until a full reform of the outdated system has been actioned. We also need an overall rebalancing of the unfair taxation of our bricks and mortar businesses, to allow them to invest in and grow.
“We look forward to working closely with the Government, taking the challenges and voices of our members directly to those in power, helping to create an environment where our pubs and their teams can thrive in the heart of their communities.”
05.07.2024
BII Responds to the General Election Results
Following yesterday’s general election, the BII is looking forward to working with the newly elected Labour government, particularly around their pledges for growth, safer communities and opportunities for all.
With new Ministers and MPs now in place, the BII will continue to take the voices of its members, mainly operating independent pub businesses across the UK, to those at the heart of Government.
Whilst inflation has come down in recent months, the impact of long term, embedded high costs in energy, food and drink, and staffing has been huge for pubs, especially with pandemic specific debt still hampering their ability to invest in their businesses to drive further growth. With National Living Wage inflation in particular, having a large ripple effect on roles across their businesses, they need investment and support from Government to help them weather the impact of these short-term issues.
Steve Alton, BII CEO commented:
“We are now looking forward to working with the new Government, to gain the vital investment that our members need to unlock their full potential. Our pubs are unique in their contribution, bringing huge economic impact, accessible, skilled jobs in every local community across the UK, and provide vital social value.
“Our sector has long been specifically referenced by all parties as a key part of our social fabric, as well as our economy. Our new Government must recognise the hugely unfair tax burden that our sector, and particularly the small, independent businesses have shouldered for decades. Our priority will be centred around working with Ministers, MPs and officials to reduce excessive taxation, provide immediate certainty of a continuation of the current business rates relief due to end in March 2025, as well as a full reform of this outdated and unfair rates system.
“With 2 in 3 independent pubs either making a loss or breaking even, the need for investment is clear. If pubs are unable to thrive, we stand to lose so much more than small businesses in their communities.
We lose assets of immeasurable social value, connecting and caring for local people, reducing loneliness, raising millions for charity and so much more.
“The key to unlocking growth in every area of the UK, is investment in small businesses, towns and high streets, and at the heart of all of those lies the pub. Our pubs provide skilled jobs, careers and entrepreneurial opportunities for everyone, connecting people and communities in highly regulated, safe spaces, all whilst delivering significant tax revenue into the Treasury.
“Our members need certainty on the future for their pubs, livelihoods and teams, through a fairer approach to the tax they pay as bricks and mortar businesses, providing an experience that cannot be replicated online.
“We will continue to encourage our members to share their challenges with their local MPs, showing them not only the support that is needed for them as small businesses at the heart of their communities, but also the essential and unique part they play in local economies, employment, supply chains and tax revenue into the Treasury.
“Our #MyPub campaign has helped members to engage with their local representatives, and with a large number of new MPs now in place, this is the perfect time to redouble our collective efforts in inviting them to see first-hand the huge positive impact pubs have in every village, high street, town and city across the UK.”
BII #MyPub Campaign
~/images/bii/news/cellar-image-news.png
Cellar and Bar Checklist
~/images/bii/news/testandtrace.png
Pub and hospitality trade bodies publish track and trace guidance for businesses
/images/BII/News/NewsArticleThumbImage_ 1207x607 (3).png
Dealing with visits from regulators to your pubs
Back to Top
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##
{1}
##LOC[OK]##
##LOC[Cancel]##