Rob Hattersley does not sound like a man looking for sympathy. The managing director of Longbow Venues, the hospitality group behind five destination pubs and hotels across the Peak District, sounds tired, frustrated and, above all, fed up with being told that his industry is being “supported”.
“In quarter four of 2025, four venues were closing a day. That’s the reality.” For Rob, hospitality’s problems are not the result of one bad decision or one difficult year. They are structural, cumulative and, in his view, politically convenient. Ultimately, he believes the tax system is fundamentally misaligned with how the sector actually works.
“Tax should be on profitability,” he argues. “At the minute, we’re hit with tax throughout the whole business. VAT is the big one. We lose 20 percent of sales straight away.”
Unlike business-to-business sectors, hospitality cannot simply add VAT on top. “We’re a luxury commodity. That VAT just disappears, and we pay the highest VAT as a percentage of sales across the whole of Europe. Generally, hospitality VAT elsewhere is about half of what it is in the UK.”
That, however, is only part of the picture. Changes to National Insurance have landed particularly hard, largely because hospitality employs so many young people. “The employer's National Insurance Contributions have increased by more than £250,000 in 2025. What’s the incentive now to employ young people?”
Hospitality, by its nature, has long been a doorway industry – a place where people start on the first rung and climb. “It’s where people cut their teeth. It gives them life experience, social skills, everything. That's being taken away.”
Margins, never generous, are being squeezed from every direction. Energy costs have surged. “There’s been a 230 percent increase in the hospitality energy price index in the last two years,” he notes. Alcohol duty rises annually. A recycling levy now applies to glass and plastic. Just around the corner, a shiny new tourist tax beckons.
Wages, too, have risen sharply. “We don’t have an issue with paying a decent wage,” he stresses. “But there’s been a 43 percent increase in the national living wage in the last five years. Our prices haven’t gone up 43 percent.”
The point at which frustration turns into disbelief is business rates. At The George, one of Longbow’s Peak District venues, the rateable value has jumped from £49,000 to £205,000.
“The chancellor stood at the despatch box and said, ‘We are supporting hospitality.’ But behind the scenes, rateable values went up astronomically. They’ve skyrocketed people’s bills, then offered a 15 percent discount and expected applause.”
Even that limited relief only applies to pubs. Venues with accommodation, like the majority of Longbow’s, are classed as hotels and receive nothing. “Same with restaurants, same with cafes,” he points out. “A lot of businesses are now going to struggle because they simply can’t afford this.
If the current trajectory continues, Rob fears a hollowed-out sector. “It’s going to be heartbreaking. People’s jobs, people’s livelihoods. You don’t do this for the money.”
"The chancellor stood at the despatch box and said, ‘We are supporting hospitality.’ But behind the scenes, rateable values went up astronomically."
Many operators have put everything on the line. “People live above their pubs with their families. They’re going to lose their life savings and they won’t recover it. And you lose the pillar of the community. The pub is where people celebrate, commiserate, come together.”
Those that survive will not look the same. “The ones that are left will be astronomically expensive, because that’s the only way they’ll survive.”
For Longbow, the impact is as much psychological as financial. “I don’t even want to think about growth at the moment. What’s the point? There’s no incentive to work 80 hours a week, for many business owners to live on less than minimum wage.”
The irony, Rob argues, is that all of this runs counter to the government’s stated ambition of economic growth. “You can’t take tax on a business that isn’t there anymore. When businesses close, employees go onto Universal Credit. They’re not contributing to the economy.”
Like many operators, Longbow is cutting back where it can, but the consequences ripple outwards. “We’re reducing marketing spend. That means less work for other local businesses. Everyone suffers. It’s a vicious circle.”
There is also a call to action for consumers, tempered with realism. “It’s a use-it-or-lose-it situation,” he says, before acknowledging that customers are under pressure too. “People don’t have the disposable income they used to – we understand that. But support your local if you want it to remain.”
That might mean changing usual habits. “Use the midweek offers. Go out on a Wednesday instead of a Saturday. You’ll get better value and you’ll be more appreciated.”
Success now looks very different from how it did a couple of years ago. “A stable business. Being able to invest in the team. A stress-free working environment,” he claims, is the peak you can hope for. “I’ve never wanted to make the big bucks. I just wanted to do something brilliant for the area.”
He is unapologetic about the need for blunt honesty. “There’s no point dressing this up. If we’re not open and vocal about how bad this is, nothing will change.”
