Chef Tommy Banks slams ‘nonsense’ rates relief: ‘We’re already at crisis point’

Chef Tommy Banks has hit out at government for providing an insufficient support package for the hospitality sector, which he said is already at “crisis point”.  

Speaking to The Caterer, the chef patron of the Michelin-starred Black Swan in Oldstead expressed both frustration and confusion towards the Treasury’s decision this week to limit the business rates U-turn to pubs. 

He stated the announcement provided a “tiny amount” of support for hospitality venues, which have suffered an average of four closures per day in the last quarter of 2025, according to the latest data.  

“This is not relief. We need to see less venues closing and less people losing their job. We’re already at a crisis point, so there needs to be meaningful support, not slightly smaller tax rises," he told The Caterer.

“All this week’s announcement will do is accelerate the number of closures. I dread to think how many businesses will close in the first quarter of this year.”  

As the owner of several pubs and restaurants in Yorkshire, including the Abbey Inn and the Michelin-starred Roots, Banks said that he did not know which of his venues would be eligible for the 15% discount on business rates bills under the Treasury’s new guidance. 

He said: “The Black Swan, which is affected the most out of my venues, is a pub and has been for 400 years. But it’s kind of evolved into a restaurant, really. So for somewhere like the Black Swan, is it exempt or is it not? We don’t know. It’s such a sketchy thing."

He added that for rural pubs like his, serving “a considerable amount of food” is “the only way you’d survive” amid wider inflationary cost pressures.

Treasury guidance has stated relief will be awarded to pubs that meet all of the following characteristics: is open to the general public, allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided, allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed, and permits drinks to be purchased at a bar.

It has explicitly excluded restaurants, cafés, nightclubs, snack bars, hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses, and other entertainment venues, having stated that local authorities should determine “those cases where eligibility is unclear”.  

Banks continued: “It just goes to show how little understanding the government actually have of the industry and how anything works. All I can think of is that, you know, it’s just nice for Rachel Reeves to pose in a pub, pulling a pint.”  

Like many operators, Banks has been heavily impacted by the increases to employers’ National Insurance Contributions in April, which had been confirmed in the 2024 Autumn Budget. Staff payroll across his business rose by a quarter of a million pounds last year. 

“How does a business – a hospitality business in particular – find £250,000 to just give to the government in tax? Most businesses are only breaking even in hospitality at best. If we were really successful, we might make 10% profit. So if we’ve got to find another quarter of a million, we’ve got to do another £2.5m worth of business just to pay that.  

“There’s no way to do it. We’ve never had to deal with situations like this before. This is death by millions and millions of bigger than paper cuts. I just don’t see where it ends,” he said.  

Despite the challenges in the industry, Banks opened the General Tarleton pub last August just outside Harrogate, marking the first pub within Jeopardy Hospitality group. While it benefited from a “honeymoon period” and continues to be one of the busiest pubs in Yorkshire, he admitted it was still only making a small amount of money.  

“Even the busiest places that are well run, where we’ve got all the budgets and everything in place to be successful, there still isn’t really a margin,” he said. 

“What makes me really upset is the messages I’ve received in the last few weeks from people who’ve had to close their business down, who’ve lost their job, who’ve had to close their family business down after 20 years because of government policy.  

“It’s absolute madness.” 

Rob Hattersley, managing director at Longbow Bars & Restaurants, also raised concerns his pubs with rooms will be classified as hotels and subsequently excluded from the support package.  

“We now face year-on-year increases of around 30%, rising to an extra £115,000 annually. That level of cost is simply unsustainable. Many hospitality businesses will not survive this and it’s yet another example of how the Labour government has failed to understand the realities of our sector,” he said. 

Meanwhile, chef and restaurateur Adam Handling, who operates two pubs, the Loch & the Tyne in Old Windsor and the Tartan Fox near Newquay, alongside the Michelin-starred Frog by Adam Handling in London’s Covent Garden, revealed his Windsor pub has seen an 80% increase in rateable values, while his Cornwall outpost has been hit with a 35% rise in costs.  

He said: “The recent announcement for the 15% discount and rates freeze for the pubs definitely softens the blow for us.  

“Naturally, it would be beneficial for this to have been applied across the board, with the same support for restaurants also. However, we’re a Collection so, for us, support for the pubs is helpful for the wider group. I fully appreciate, of course, it’s a huge knock to the restaurant industry. I just try and maintain a positive attitude, no matter what gets thrown at us.”