Andy Burnham's proposed 20% business rate reduction for pubs, clubs, and music venues, costing £100m, aims to support high streets. While welcomed as a gesture, industry figures like pub owner Dan Smith and consultant Colm O'Leary view the £1,000 average saving as insufficient compared to other rising costs like VAT and staffing.
England's pubs, clubs, and live music venues will receive a 20% business rates discount as part of a £100m aid package from Prime Minister Burnham, aimed at supporting high streets and easing living costs, though some industry leaders and opposition question its scope and funding.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a 20% business rates cut for pubs, social clubs, and live music venues in England from April, saving firms £1,100 next year. The £100m plan, funded by reviewing tax relief on vape shops, is his third policy, but hotels and restaurants question their exclusion.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced a 20% cut to business rates for pubs, clubs, and live music venues to ease the cost of living crisis. The policy, costing £100M annually, is the third since his Monday appointment, aiming to save 32,000 hospitality businesses £1,100/year.
Brighton's The Pipeline music venue will become community-owned as the 10th site acquired by Music Venue Properties (MVP), a £7m initiative backed by DJ Fatboy Slim and Andy Burnham, aiming to secure the future of grassroots venues by becoming a "benevolent landlord."
Andy Burnham's administration will cut business rates by 20% for nearly 32,000 pubs, clubs, and live music venues in England from April, as part of a £10m package to support high streets and ease cost of living pressures. The initiative will be funded by reviewing relief for businesses deemed not to contribute positively to communities.
A massive fire at a live music venue in Bangkok, Thailand, late Sunday killed at least 27 people and injured 63. Many victims died trapped near bathrooms while trying to escape thick smoke. An investigation into the cause is underway, examining fire safety and escape routes.
A massive fire at Rong Beer Na Lat Phrao pub in Bangkok's Chatuchak district on Sunday night killed at least 27 people and injured 63. Many victims died trapped near bathrooms while trying to escape thick smoke. An investigation is underway into the cause, with questions raised about blocked exits and safety standards.
Concert giant Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster have had a harmful monopoly over big music venues, a jury in the US has found.
Dazzling new additions like V&A East are a source of national pride, but so are much-loved regional institutionsThe V&A East Museum, which opens its doors for the first time in Stratford, London, on Saturday, is the latest addition to the buzzing East Bank cultural quarter on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This £135m architect-designed V&A outpost is a short walk from the V&A East Storehouse (on Time Magazine’s list of The World’s Greatest Places to Visit 2026) and Sadler’s Wells East, both of which arrived last year. The London College of Fashion has been there since 2024 and BBC Music Studios are due to open in 2027. Art, design, dance, fashion and music – welcome to London’s 21st-century culturopolis.This once-neglected area of London – “a place where fridges went to die” as Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East, put it – has been transformed into a creative mecca. But in many parts of the UK the story is one of falling visitor numbers, job losses and the closure of much-loved music venues and art spaces. These architectural palaces are a far cry from many of the crumbling theatres and museums outside the capital (and their well-maintained European equivalents).Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
