THE boss of a brewery in Cornwall has criticised Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Budget, saying it will further damage the hospitality sector.

St Austell Brewery chief executive Kevin Georgel has written an open letter following the Budget announcements.

Mr Georgel’s business, with its headquarters in St Austell, operates more than 160 pubs and two breweries in the West Country.

His letter urges the government to recognise the implications of the Budget and reconsider policies that he says threaten jobs, communities, investment and the future of pubs.

In parts of the letter, Mr Georgel said: “We had initially approached this Budget with a degree of optimism – hoping the Government would finally grasp the seriousness of the pressures facing Great British pubs and honour its own manifesto commitment to support our sector.

“But weeks of damaging speculation drained that optimism, replacing it with fear about what the Chancellor would announce when she finally stood at the despatch box. And now, after taking time to absorb the detail, the conclusion is stark. This Budget heaps yet more cost and pain on a sector that simply cannot bear it.

“For months, our industry bodies have been speaking with the Treasury and providing clear, factual evidence to reinforce the reality of our sector’s precarious state. We have repeatedly asked for breathing space from what is already the most heavily taxed sector within our economy. Instead, the government has chosen to impose even more punitive taxes on businesses that support jobs, communities and local economies across the UK.

“Worse still, the Chancellor has tried to claim business rates are going down. This is misleading to people across the country who know the importance of local pubs to their communities and want to see these businesses being supported, not taxed out of existence.

“Business rates are not going down. A small cut to the multiplier hides the truth – rateable values are rising sharply and justified reliefs are being scrapped. From April 2026, hardworking publicans will face average business rate hikes of 76 per cent, phased over three years. This is equivalent to an extra £13k per annum in additional tax. And these increases have nothing to do with rising profits – pub profits are falling. Revenues are only up because we’ve been forced to raise prices to try and keep pace with inflation, soaring utilities and steep rises in employment costs. This includes above inflationary increases in the National Minimum Wage and the changes to National Insurance announced at last year’s Budget, which were extraordinarily damaging for the pub industry.

“Transitional relief will not soften the blow either, as the government claims. This is misleading. It will merely delay it, draining any recovery in confidence.

“Before the Budget, a £5 pint already included £2.03 of tax. After all other costs, publicans were left with just 13p of profit per pint. After the increase in business rates, higher wage costs and beer duty, the tax take – already over 40 per cent – is rising again. The result is inevitable – higher prices for customers, fewer jobs and less investment.”