THE owner of a popular village pub has called on the government to lower VAT rates to help ‘struggling’ businesses.

James Whitesmith, who runs the Oddfellows Arms in Caldbeck, said that in just three days this month he spent almost £27,000 on stamp duty and VAT, calling the tax strain on businesses ‘unsustainable’ after a ‘challenging’ two-year period.

On top of VAT, the pub has been badly affected by the rise in energy prices, particularly as the rural business relies on oil to provide energy which has seen a threefold rise in price.

“It’s been hard work,” said James.

“As a business owner you don’t want to be shouting too much but you feel you have to say something.

“We’re a village pub and we employ plenty of people from the community so it’s a battle at the moment.”

James has said that business so far this December has been “40 per cent down” on pre-pandemic levels and that pubs rely on Christmas trade to keep their doors open throughout January and February.

“At the moment we’ve got heavily reduced business due to sickness, cancellations and a lot of people just can’t afford to go out - and at the same time we’ve got employees to support,” said James.

“We can’t just keep charging more money as we try to be responsible as a business and if something goes up, we try and see what we can do to keep the cost down but it’s getting to the point that we’re going to have to do something major soon.”

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A cut in VAT for businesses would help, according to James, but if nothing is done soon then pubs could be forced to close in large numbers.

“Places are going to start to have to close and you’re going to get villages like Caldbeck lose their pubs which are the heart of soul of their communities,” said James.

“It’s where people go to meet up, to party, to relax and its part of how we’ve been brought up, particularly in Cumbria.”

A HM Treasury spokesperson said: "We have frozen alcohol duty for a further six months as part of our commitment to responsible management of the UK’s economy, to reassure and provide certainty to pubs, breweries and distilleries facing tough challenges ahead.

"We are also protecting firms from rising inflation and cutting their bills through business rates relief, the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which will save the typical restaurant 40 per cent on energy bills this winter, and a £2.4 billion fuel duty cut."

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