Live music venues in the UK are now set to get government support, following backlash to plans to introduce devastating business rates.
- READ MORE: UK grassroots venues suffering from “the complete collapse of touring” – here’s how you can help
The steep increases in business rates were outlined at the end of 2025, and meant that that live music venues would be facing some of the sharpest rises in business rates in the country – leaving thousands of venues and pubs at risk.
In response, industry leaders and business owners across the country warned that the consequences seen from the spitalling costs, spearheaded by Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, would be dire and lead to widespread venue closures and job losses.
Now, the government has today (Tuesday January 27), announced a U-turn on the proposed rates, and admitted that they did not anticipate the severe financial toll it would have on the live music sector.
In response to the outcry, the Treasury has confirmed details of a new support package worth nearly £100million for pubs and live music venues across England and Wales.
According to the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, Dan Tomlinson, every pub in England and Wales will see their business rates bill decrease by 15 per cent from April 1 – saving an average of just under £1,700 each. The bills will be frozen from then on, factoring in inflation, for a further two years.
“This support is worth £1,650 for the average pub just next year, and will mean that around three-quarters of pubs will see their bills either fall or stay the same next year,” he explained (via The Guardian), also adding that the proposed changes will lead to rate being, on average, lower in the years 2028 and 2029 than they are now.
The government is also tackling claims that live music venues and pubs are being unjustly penalised – now reviewing the way that they calculate business rates, and changing licensing rules to make it easier for venues to extend their opening hours and expand their premises. It will not, however, consider reducing the VAT rates for alcohol.
“I do recognise the particular challenge that pubs face at the moment, and so have been working with the sector over the last few weeks to make sure that the right support is in place,” Reeves said (as per Huffington Post UK). “I think the situation the pubs face is different from other parts of the hospitality sector.”
In response to the U-turn regarding increasing business rates Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd said in a new statement that the organisation “warmly welcomes today’s government statement on urgent and immediate Business Rate relief”, and thanked MPs and fans in helping spark the change.
Davyd continued to say that the MVT will be working “with our Music Venues Alliance venue members” to see if the new support package laid out by the government is “sufficient to manage this crisis, which threatened to close hundreds of venues in the next three years.”
“There is a commitment to review the calculations at the core of this issue, and we will fully support that review of Rateable Values,” he added. “Grassroots Music Venues, and other crucial parts of the music ecosystem such as recording studios and rehearsal spaces, require a specific valuation process that recognises their cultural and community value and we hope this review can deliver that.”
He also added that the MVT would also be turning its attention to venues in Scotland and Northern Ireland, “where the same core issue – extreme revaluations of cultural spaces resulting in unaffordable rates demands – need to urgently be addressed.”
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl meanwhile, said that “while the extra support for pubs and music venues is welcome, we must not forget recording studios that are facing crippling rate increases that will leave many facing closure”.
He continued: “Why should the studio used to film Hamnet be entitled to business rate relief, yet the studio used to record the soundtrack not be eligible? This is pure discrimination and recording studios must not be treated as poor cousins in the creative economy. The Government must think again and extend a lifeline to support our world-leading studios that play such a vital part in our communities, talent development and support thousands of jobs.”
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association, also addressed the changes, and said that while the government aid is “welcome”, the “intervention amounts to little more than a drop in the ocean when set against the reality of the current tax system and the cumulative damage inflicted by the last two budgets.”
He added that the sector has been “savaged by rising business rates, VAT, alcohol duty, employment costs and licensing fees”, and debated what the proposed changes will “actually do for the hospitality and night time economy as a whole”.
“The vast proportion of the sector will see no benefit whatsoever from this scheme,” Kill continued. “This policy position is frankly baffling. Pubs, bars, nightclubs, live music venues and cultural spaces are all part of the same fragile ecosystem, facing the same structural challenges and carrying the same disproportionate tax burdens.
"While the extra support for pubs and music venues is welcome, we must not forget recording studios are facing crippling rate increases that will leave many facing closure."
UK Music Chief @Tomkiehl has urged government to protect our vital studios from soaring business rates. https://t.co/X9hpXPDRYb
— UK Music (@UK_Music) January 27, 2026
“To support one part while ignoring the rest is not just short-sighted, it is fundamentally disconnected from how this industry actually operates,” he added. “Once again, we are seeing sticking plasters applied to a much deeper problem that urgently needs to be addressed. There appears to be a worrying level of disengagement from the realities on the ground, and a lack of joined-up thinking across government.”
Concluding, Kill requested that the Chancellor “urgently address this imbalance and recognise that piecemeal, sub-sector-specific interventions will not stabilise the industry”. He also said that “without a meaningful, sector-wide approach to taxation and business rates reform” there will still be venues closing on a wide scale, as well as jobs lost, and “vital cultural and social infrastructure will be permanently damaged”.
The changes outlined by Rachel Reeves come shortly after the Music Venue Trust revealed that over half of UK grassroots venues made no profit in 2025, and that 6,000 jobs were lost in the sector.
Sharing the concerning figures from the past 12 months, MVT not only demanded action from the government about the business rates, but also reiterated the importance of larger venues in the UK implementing a ticket levy to help ensure the survival of grassroots spaces.
The widespread loss of venues has been a growing concern across the UK in recent years, and at the end of 2024 was described by the MVT as causing “the complete collapse of touring”.
Other startling statistics came in last year’s MVT report, which showed that the UK was losing one music venue every fortnight. There has been some progress, however, and 2025 saw the rate of venue decline slow to its lowest point since 2018. That being said, there is still the need for urgent action.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski recently sat down with NME to discuss the ongoing struggle for venues to remain open in the UK, and explain how it is having a huge negative impact on new talent being able to rise through the ranks.
“We have so many dead spaces on high streets that are boarded up or graffitied over. That’s really bad for the local communities in giving a really bad sense of deprivation, but those spaces are also where culture and art could be happening,” he said. “Business rates are also really doing a lot of small businesses over, particularly pubs, clubs and venues.”
“If we want great working class stories […] then we need to make sure we’re supporting the creativity of those people to be able to hone their skills,” Polanski continued. “The lack of funding and support means that the gap is getting wider and wider. It’s not working on every level. If we want a system that works, then it does require funding, it requires subsidies, and it particularly requires time and attention.”
The news also comes as Independent Venue Week returns with over 236 independent venues putting on over 700 gigs across the UK to celebrate and spotlight the people and places that make music possible and feed into the talent pipeline.
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