Andy Burnham, in his first week as Prime Minister, announced a 20 per cent relief on business rates for live music venues, pubs, and other hospitality venues, effective from April 2027. This is on top of the 15 per cent relief already granted this year.
Mark Davyd, founder and CEO of the Music Venue Trust, called the move significant for venues operating on thin margins. He said the relief could mean the difference between paying electricity bills or not, keeping sound engineers employed, or having vacant units in towns.
Speed of action praised
Davyd highlighted the speed of the decision: Burnham committed to it before becoming Prime Minister and delivered it within a week of taking office. He contrasted this with previous governments' lengthy consultations, noting no commission, green paper, or further consultation was required.
If this pattern of quickly identifying and implementing fixes continues, Davyd said it could be applied to other long-standing hospitality sector issues, such as community ownership models, reducing VAT on tickets, removing VAT on the grassroots levy, and enforcing the Agent of Change principle.
Breathing space for venues
Davyd described the relief as providing breathing space for the sector, allowing for harder conversations about a tax system that values retail potential over cultural and community value. He referenced Ray Davies of The Kinks, who sang about knocking down the local palais, saying that now it is done with better spreadsheets.
In Manchester, grassroots venues already saw similar policies under Burnham's mayoralty, from transport to licensing to business rates. Davyd noted that there are two years before the next full business rates revaluation to ensure that patch-up relief is not needed repeatedly.
Encouraging but overdue
Davyd acknowledged that grassroots music is a small crisis compared to others, but said the action shows a government willing to pick achievable fixes and implement them. He called for further action on ownership, tax, and planning, which could restore public faith in government getting things done for communities.
