When the last pub closes

Two governments cut business rates for hospitality this year. Neither did it by accident, and the reason should change how every sector thinks.

When the last bank in town closes, people go nuts.

Angry press releases. Motions in Parliament. Debates. A town refusing to lose something it cannot replace.

When the last pub closes, we say "ah, that's a shame," and move on.

Yet the pub is the last shared room many towns have left. Not a line on a spreadsheet, the place people actually meet. And they are closing at around one a day.

Which is why the last fortnight matters more than it looks.

Two governments, one lesson

This week the new Prime Minister cut business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues in England, saving a typical pub around £1,100 a year. In the winter, the Scottish Budget lifted hospitality relief from 15% to 40% for premises up to £100,000 rateable value.

Different parties. Different parliaments. Easy to file as rival political wins. They are not.

It was never luck

Neither happened by accident. Both came from sectors that got organised and turned up with evidence. In England, UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association and the Music Venue Trust spent years turning "pubs are closing" into a number no politician could ignore. In Scotland, the Scottish Hospitality Group, the Scottish Tourism Alliance and the Association of Scotland's Self-Caterers did the same.

I was in the room for the Scottish deal. What moved it was not a clever press release. It was a sector that stopped competing for attention and started speaking with one voice.

And it was not only hospitality. Colleges and hospices won ground in the same Budget, for the same reason.

The uncomfortable part

The winners are rarely the biggest or the best connected. They are the ones who understand how the process works and turn up at the right moment. Most organisations only discover they lack that skill after the deadline has passed.

Governments of every colour respond to an organised voice with evidence behind it. On your own, you are a line in someone's inbox. Together, with the numbers to prove it, you are a case they have to answer.

The pub, the college, the hospice, the self-catering let. None were saved by luck. They were saved by people who got involved.

That option is open to far more sectors than use it. Most only realise it when their local is already boarded up.

Kempock helps organisations turn a case into a result. From the chamber to your boardroom. Get in touch if your organisation wants to influence thinking. We do it well.