There are many things we do well in Fylde and of them is the fantastic pubs we have. From the Queen’s in Lytham to the Hop Shoppe in St Annes, from the Hand and Dagger in Treales to the Thatched House in Poulton, our pubs are where we celebrate, commiserate and put the world to rights. They are employers, meeting places and part of the very fabric of Fylde life. Lose a pub and you lose something far more than a business which is why I recently raised their plight in Parliament.
During a debate in the House of Commons I highlighted the pressures facing many of our local pubs and asked the Minister what more the Government plans to do to support them. I pointed out that rising National Insurance costs and looming business rates changes are leaving landlords deeply worried.
The Minister listened patiently as I listed some of Fylde’s finest establishments, joking that I had taken him on a pub crawl from the floor of the Commons but his response was not quite what I expected.
Rather than promising to cut business rates, he suggested that if I was looking for somewhere to take Mrs Snowden for Valentine’s Day, the Coach and Horses in Freckleton was offering two mains and two drinks for £25.99. Now, I agree that this is excellent value. But I would have preferred a commitment to ease the tax burden on pubs rather than a helpful dinner suggestion.
Sadly Mrs Snowden and I already had plans, so the element of surprise was lost. But humour aside, the challenges are very real. Landlords across Fylde tell me energy bills, staff costs and new taxes are piling pressure on already tight margins. The Government has made some limited concessions, but as I made clear in the debate, they do not go nearly far enough.
That is why Conservatives have set out a clear plan to back our pubs. We would scrap Labour’s business rates changes for hospitality and replace them with a permanent lower rate for pubs and high street venues. We would reverse the damaging National Insurance hike on employers and cut the red tape that makes it harder to run a small business.
In short, we would support pubs instead of squeezing them. A strong pub trade means jobs for local people, footfall for our town centres and somewhere for communities to come together. That is worth fighting for.
So I will keep banging the drum in Westminster for the Queen’s, the Hop Shoppe, the Hand and Dagger, the Thatched House and every other local that makes Fylde special. And as for the Coach and Horses, don’t worry, I will be in for a pint very soon.
