Last orders! Reeves risks killing off the Great British Pub

THE future of the great British pub will be decided in the next 48 hours and unless drastic action is taken, the trade will be decimated.

- Duncan Barkes

Industry bosses fear 2,000 pubs could close next year with the loss of 12,000 jobs

Rachel Reeves must finally recognise the desperate situation many venues find themselves in or her Labour government will be responsible for seeing further closures and job losses.

That might sound dramatic but it’s no exaggeration. The future of the sector really is at stake and Wednesday’s Budget is pivotal in deciding whether our much-loved community assets have a future.

The Chancellor is at risk of overseeing the demise of pubs that have been at the heart of our high streets and communities for centuries.

Voters will not forgive her, and Labour will carry the can for changing British society forever.

The seeds of destruction were sown last October in her first Budget. The Chancellor gleefully announced a penny off a pint — the politician’s usual way of grabbing a headline and attempting to show they are in touch with the desires of the electorate.

But a penny off a pint makes no difference to the punter or the publican, it only gives the Chancellor of the day a quick soundbite.

Reeves, however, managed to really put the boot into the pub sector and hospitality trade by increasing the minimum wage and the amount of national insurance that employers must pay.