The Treasury has called time on the biggest cost surprise pub and hotel owners have faced this decade. On 24 August 2026 it commissioned an independent review of how the two sectors are valued for business rates, appointing Jerry Schurder to report back by the end of March 2027. The catch is the calendar: the review runs for seven months, and the government has said it wants any recommendations implemented at the next revaluation in 2029.
01What was announced
The review will examine how the current valuation methods for pubs and hotels work in practice and whether they remain fit for purpose. Unlike most commercial property, pubs and hotels are valued on a turnover-based method, so the rateable value tracks the trade the premises are judged capable of doing rather than a comparable rent.
A call for evidence is open until Friday 16 October 2026, with responses going to the Treasury at PubsHotels.Valuation@hmtreasury.gov.uk. Operators who believe their rateable value misreads their trade have until then to say so.
James Murray, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said pubs and hotels are vital for communities and for bringing growth to every postcode, and that following last month's tax cuts for pubs the government was going further with a rethink of valuations to build a fairer system for the future.
02Why it landed now
The April 2026 revaluation is the immediate cause. Valuation Office Agency figures cited by the House of Commons Library show rateable values for public houses and pub restaurants rose by an average of 30 per cent, and by around 70 per cent where the property includes lodge accommodation, against 19.4 per cent across all English properties.
Relief has been layered on top. A 15 per cent reduction applied to pubs and live music venues from April 2026, and a further 20 per cent cut for pubs, social clubs and live music venues was announced for April 2027. The Treasury estimates the average pub saves roughly £1,650 on its 2026/27 bill. Hotels sit inside the valuation review but outside that relief.
The trade is not treating the discount as the whole picture. UK Hospitality has projected an average pub's rates will be around £4,500 higher in 2027/28 than today and around £7,000 higher in 2028/29. Its chief executive Allen Simpson called the review much needed and positive, while warning it is medium-term reform that will not solve immediate financial pressures.
Business rates are devolved, so the review, the reliefs and the multipliers apply in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own non-domestic rates systems.
03What it means for borrowing
For anyone financing a pub or hotel, the useful part is not the relief. It is that the rates line in a business plan has become forecastable for the first time in years: a known 2026/27 bill, a known cut in April 2027, and a defensible range beyond it from the trade body's own projections. On hospitality deals, an unforecastable cost base is more often the objection than the sector itself.
It also sets the cost of waiting. A purchase, a lease, a kitchen refit or an extra floor of rooms will not be any easier to fund in March 2027, and the structural fix does not arrive until 2029 at the earliest.
Our full guide sets out what the review changes, who qualifies for the April 2027 cut, and how to structure borrowing for a pub or hotel while it runs: Pub and hotel finance in 2026.
Planning to buy rather than wait? Finance to buy a business is our specialist work, pubs and hotels included.
