Business rates backlash in Harrogate as costs rise and pubs disappear
A well-known independent Harrogate bar owner has hit out at the Government after being told his business rates are to double in cost.
Simon Colgan, who has successfully run the small but nationally-renowned Blues Bar on Montpellier Parade with his partner Sharon since the 1990s, says he was horrified that the impact of the Government’s controversial attempts to reform the business rates system meant they would be paying £62,000 a year rather than £31,000 as currently.
"The rates we assessed in 2023 and brought about no real change, yet in three years it is deemed my bill should double,” said Simon who owns a number of pubs including The Empress in Harrogate and The Worlds End in Knaresborough.
"What do they think has changed in the Blues Bar’s circumstances that we deserve to have our bill doubled?
"I’m not sure where we will find that extra cash.”
Mr Colgan’s comments come amid general alarm in Harrogate’s small business community and hospitality sector about the implication of last November's Budget.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ subsequent offer of a 15% discount on pubs and music venues’ business rates bills from April with a pledge of no increases for two years has failed to diffuse the situation.
"I find it difficult to comprehend in the most challenging times I have ever known how any government can think that an increase of that amount is sustainable,” said Mr Colgan.
"These business rates increases are really going to put pressure on our industry this year.”
The concerns of the owner of the Blues Bar, which is famed for its live music, is echoed by other figures in the town’s bar trade.
Simon Cotton, Group Managing Director of the HRH Group which manages a portfolio of hotels and bars, including The Fat Badger and The Pickled Sprout in Harrogate, told the Harrogate Advertiser last month that the situation was getting worse.
"The changes to business rates threaten to heap further unneeded pressure onto the hospitality industry,” he said.
"We have already started this year with a mixed bag of news of closures and openings in Harrogate which has seen long-standing bars like Banyan closing and one of the new pizza venues on Cheltenham Crescent throwing the towel in."
A Harrogate councillor with real experience in the trade himself has called for more support for pubs, saying the system was "stacked against them”.
Green Party Councillor Mike Schofield, who represents Harlow and St Georges, said he knew how hard it was for the sector after he had to close The Shepherds Dog pub in Harrogate last June due to rising costs.
He highlighted figures from the British Beer and Pub Association showing 33 pubs in North Yorkshire had closed since 2016.
“We’re seeing pubs disappear not because communities don’t value them but because the system is stacked against them," said Coun Schofield.
“Pubs are part of our social infrastructure and community support networks.
"Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.”
The long-called for reform of business rates may have seen a reduction in the ‘multipliers’ - a figure used to work out how much businesses pay in rates.
But many pubs, restaurants and hotels are still seeing their bills go up due to their properties being revalued with the new values often turning out to be much higher.