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"How good is your relationship with your local MP? Do they support you and understand your business challenges?"

1

Quietly Supportive

Gary Dwyer
Director, Gamechanger Pub Co
I am apolitical and our local MP, Alex Baker’s parents drink at our pub. They’re nice people and she’s always friendly when she comes in. Her parents drink here for a reason: we’re a pub with old-fashioned values — family friendly, no swearing and we keep the noise levels down. I have spoken to her about how the business is going. We would like to see the Government cut us some slack and stop the tax rises. Our insurance went up at the same time at the NICs and minimum wage increases, along with wholesale rises, and that has been tough. I’m ex-military and have only been here for a couple of years, and I find the constant pressure back- breaking. It is hard work and even though we’ve doubled the weekly take, that’s still not good enough, which can be morale-sapping. I’ve not received any sort of promises from our MP, but I believe she is quietly supportive.

2

MPs Forget We're Working People

John Judson FBII
The George, Castleton, Derbyshire
Government policies are making hospitality so hard. Our MP in this area wanted to meet us, after we won the PubAid Sustainability Award, but not since. Whenever I’ve contacted him to talk about issues, like VAT and other kinds of stuff, he has not made it easy. He’s got quite a high position in Government and seems more interested in helping with parking issues — not taking the side of local businesses. Increases in the Minimum Wage and NICs has made it so much harder for us and, if we weren’t as sustainable as we are, we would find it much harder still. We employ 28 people locally and have worked hard to build a great reputation. MPs talk about making it better for the working person, but they seem to forget that we are the working person.

3

Supports Local Pubs

Paul Meads FBII
Cross Keys, Pulloxhill, Bedford
Our MP is Blake Stephenson and we have a nice relationship with him — I’ve got his number in my phone. He recently did a competition to find the best pub in mid-Bedfordshire and we won it. I don’t really talk to him about the issues, as I’m fortunate in that while the pub is treading water and I’ve got a couple of other businesses that give me a second income, but I do worry about my friends, who I know are concerned about trade. I’m a tenancy, so I’m tied on beer, but we do a hell of a lot of food and I can put my own profit margins on that. I price the beer for the people who come in once or twice a week and I give a 5% discount to my regulars that come in every day. Blake Stephenson MP seems to understand how important pubs are to their communities and when he did a tour of all the pubs in Bedfordshire, he started at ours, which was really nice of him.

4

The Swan Feels Listened To

Micky Foden-Andrews MBII
The Swan in Clewer, Windsor, Berkshire
I’ve known Jack Rankin MP for about a year. He came here for our Christmas Fare last year and, after we’d won the Great British Pub Award for Community Pub in 2025, he sent us a handwritten letter on House of Commons headed paper to congratulate us, which was very nice. He has been along to the pub, doing the typical MP things of pulling a couple of pints and getting good pics for social media. I work closely with the BII and am an advocate for the #OurPub campaign, and in the autumn I invited him for a meeting to talk about what’s happening to our industry — that 100,000 jobs have been lost, 367 pubs closed and another 200 about to close. We discussed the difference in VAT… and I asked him to try and get a message to the Chancellor that Government is killing the business. A few weeks later, he’d brought up the pub’s name in the House of Commons, talking about what we do for the community and the importance of keeping the pub industry alive. I’m doing all that I can through the #OurPub campaign — we have a poster up behind the bar telling people to write to their MP, because if you don’t do anything, we’re never going to see any change.

5

A System That Is Very Anti-Pub

Mick Dore
Alexandra, Wimbledon, London
Our MP (Lib Dem), Paul Kohler, hasn’t been long in the job. But I used to like our previous MP (Cons), Stephen Hammond, very much. He came into the pub a fair bit and got behind us and supported our initiatives like Meet Up Mondays and our Christmas Lunch for those alone on the day. Stephen even nominated us for London Pub of the Year and we got invited along to the House of Commons to receive an award. These days, I’ve taken to LinkedIn to voice my views on how we, as an industry, are being treated. I don’t particularly blame this Government, as things have been bad for some years, but I feel that it’s almost like they’ve devised a system that is actually anti-pub. We’re very lucky here, we’re busy and successful, yet I feel as a sector we could help boost the economy. But with VAT giving an advantage to supermarkets over a pub, and the likes of Tesco loss-leading on alcohol, it’s ridiculous. The way it works is that people are discouraged from going to the pub, whereas we could play a part in reducing the problems associated with drinking at home. The current situation makes no sense.

6

Not Getting Engagement

Kelly Deary
Unique Inns Pub Co
It seems to be all about personal PR for our MP, Amanda Hack. I’d really like her to understand what we do, and that we are about community. I’ve tried to do more with her, but I’m not finding any engagement. The truth is, that if we don’t get help, we’re not going to be here. We’re pretty much working for nothing, which I didn’t mind when we were building the business up, but now it’s seven days a week and I’d actually be financially better off as a 16-year-old pot wash. It has got to get better.

7

Keeping Politics Out Of The Pub

Anonymous
Our local MP, Caroline Dinenage, has been brilliant and is very involved locally, running the Gosport Business Awards. She gets on and does positive things, rather than moaning and groaning. That said, I prefer to keep politics out of the business. If you are seen to align yourself with a particular politician it can really backfire and come back to bite you on the backside. I see mixing politics and business as a potential war zone and I’m worried that customers could take it the wrong way. I want to be seen as neutral — not anti or pro. I know what happens and I’ve seen people boycott venues, so it’s easier not to get involved.

8

Great MP, Who Likes To Help

Adrian Bennett
Crown & Anchor, Kilnsea, East Riding
Graham Stuart, our MP, has been very supportive over many issues. When we were recently faced with a power cut, he managed to get us a generator, which meant we could carry on trading and didn’t lose any money. He also supported us through the lockdown, helping us to set up a community shop. He asks about the business and how we are coping with the current taxation situation and he appears to understand the issues and has asked our advice on what we would like to see happen. He is constantly in contact with local businesses within the East Riding of Yorkshire and is always helping small businesses. You regularly see him in the local newspapers and magazines supporting local causes. He really does try to help where he can.

9

Our MP is Not Popular With Our Customers

Pete Smith MBII
Robin Hood
Our MP, Alan Mak, is not very popular within this constituency. I find that he pops up when he needs a photo, but has never been in the pub, as far as I’m aware. In the past, a long time ago, I sent him emails, but I never received any response. He has recently reached out to us, but I’m fairly skeptical — he’s not someone who is popular among the customers. On the other hand, our former MP David Willets was a brilliant constituency MP who would always come back to you within days. It would be good to have someone as supportive as he was.

10

Mentioned In Parliament

Iain Moran
Dr Neil Hudson, our local MP for Epping Forest, visited the pub on November 7. He had been in before for Sunday roast, but I’d not had the opportunity to meet him. It went well, he listened and I felt that I got across what I needed to. I feel VAT is the most unfair tax. We’re the highest, except for Norway, in Europe and if VAT was reduced, to say 9% (which I know it won’t be) as they have in Ireland, that would allow us to invest in the business. We currently employ the lowest number of staff that we ever have and if VAT was lowered, I could afford to both invest in the team and in the business. I’ve got one apprentice, but there are another two or three people that, if I could afford to give them more hours, I would get onto apprenticeship schemes. Young people need the opportunity but we’re living day-by-day and have no back- up. If something runs out or breaks down, we can’t afford to do anything about it. It was good to hear him mention us in Parliament too, saying that pubs are being treated unfairly and that we need help. I think it’s important more pubs speak to their MPs, as the BII’s campaign is pushing for. I’m behind it and find inspiration in following BII and people like Emma Gibbon, #ThatPubChic k on Twitter. She’s fantastic.

This interview can be found in the Winter 2026 edition

Read the full issue

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