Salons' profits 'hollowed out' by business rate rises

THE British Beauty Council has urged the Government to extend support on business rates to hair and beauty salons, or watch firms up and down the country “pull down their shutters for good”.

- CHRIS DORRELL

Victoria Brownlie, chief policy and sustainability officer at the British Beauty Council, warned that the profitability of beauty salons has been “hollowed out” by spiralling labour costs and utility bills, with looming changes to business rates set to pile further costs on top.

“The British Beauty Council is calling on the Chancellor to recognise that without urgent intervention on business rates, the vibrant salons that define our local economies may soon be forced to pull down their shutters for good,” she said.

The intervention is the latest from the retail and hospitality sector following the government's attempt to reform business rates, a tax on non-domestic properties.