Andy Dempster

When your small independent Italian restaurant based in East London @I_Q_London is in the top 5 rated restaurants on @Tripadvisoruk & No 1 Italian after the year we’ve had, so proud of the team 🤟🏻❤️@Vito_Parrinello 🇮🇹🍕🍝 @UKHospKate @BigHospitality @eaterlondon @PaulCharity1

A #VatCut in line with Europe - NOTHING else will do #TaxedOut #HospitalityVoices #CutVat Greene King to put 150 pubs on chopping block cityam.com/greene-king-to…

VAT in line with Europe. Right now the UK hospitality sector is carrying one of the highest VAT burdens in Europe. At 20% it simply does not stack up against the rest of the continent where lower rates support jobs, communities and local economies. Hospitality is closing at a rate of around 6 to 7 businesses every single day. That is pubs, cafés, restaurants and hotels disappearing from our high streets and towns. This is not just about business owners. It is about the 3+ million people who work in hospitality plus the millions more family members and friends connected to the sector. When hospitality struggles whole communities feel it. Cutting VAT in line with Europe would help bring down prices, support jobs, protect high streets and give this vital industry breathing room. Hospitality does not want handouts. It wants a fair playing field. It is time to reset the balance. #VATinLineWithEurope #CutVAT #Hospitality #taxedout #SupportHospitality @HospoVoices @wonky_table

The Spring Statement was another missed opportunity. After two years of relentless cost pressure, hospitality is on its knees. The tax burden on our sector needs a reset. If growth is truly the mission, rhetoric is not enough. We need decisive action. Cut VAT for hospitality and the night time economy. Bring the UK in line with Europe and give businesses the breathing room to invest, employ and grow. The time for reassurance has passed. The time for action is now. The Autumn Budget is where is MUST happen. The clock starts now. 267 days. Email your MP here; ntia.co.uk/email-your-mp/… Find out more about the ask here; thewonkytable.co.uk/cutvat The call is VAT and ONLY VAT - in line with Europe. @wonky_table @NTIAgov @ntiaofficial @IoH_Online @UKHofficial @BIIandBIIAB @beerandpub @GBPubConfed @CampaignforPubs @scothospgroup @HospUlster @CAMRA_Official @NFFF_UK #CutVAT13 #Hospitality #NightTimeEconomy #UKHospitality #SaveHospitality #CutVat #VatCut #VATinLineWithEurope #HospitalityVoices

I would love to know how much in tax receipts the echequer has lost, since the industry has shed over 100k jobs? 🤔 @Sacha_Lord @andyjlennox

Absolutely this. Most people don’t realise how much of an outlier we are in this country when it comes to VAT on hospitality. Wonder why a pint is so expensive in the UK compared to abroad? This is a BIG part of the reason. #cutvat

It's a band aid merely covering a gaping wound. Pointless. A VAT cut is the only real help for Hospitality and the high street.

Read we’re only going to absolutely shaft pubs by 85%. She may as well have done nothing at all 🤡🤡🤡

The support package being announced today, is far too little and too late. Firstly, it's only for pubs and an average of 2.2k a pub, which won't even touch the sides. But why ignore the rest of Hospitality, restaurants, cafe, hotels, live music venues etc? The Chancellor just wants a cheap headline, leaving an entire industry up in arms. Meanwhile, our High Streets are being decimated, due to her lack of understanding of business.

Hospitality is one industry and we must remain united. We may have made progress, but the job is far from finished. Please see below press release. #NoLabourMPs @wonky_table #TaxedOut #Hospitality #VatCut #TaxReform

Labour MPs call for halt to business rate rise for music venues bbc.in/4q24Rjd

We need a VAT cut now!

Four hospitality sites closed every day in Q4 2025, research shows ➡️ thecaterer.com/news/four-hosp… thecaterer.com/news/four-hosp…

Hospitality has been so important in the past decades in providing life and job opportunities for young people - creating 1 in 3 jobs post financial crash after innovative NIC cuts. We could do the same now, but we are #TaxedOut and that is why support for Hospitality matters

The entire sector faces the same cost challenges and economic pressures - in fact, hotels face higher revaluations on FMT and more significant bills and restaurants greater employment challenges - 5 out of 6 predicted business failures and jobs lost are in wider hospitality

"@UKHOfficial's #TaxedOut campaign has highlighted the nearly 90,000 jobs that have been lost in this sector.” In Parliament @jamesowild described the jobs losses in the sector and its affect on young people. We need to a hospitality wide solution on business rates.

Reeves under pressure to extend tax relief to rest of hospitality sector ft.com/content/230bb5… via @ft

The Chancellor stood up during her Budget speech and said she was helping the British Pub. In fact she introduced a stealth tax costing the British pub £380 million over the next three years. She has called last orders on many pubs across the UK.

We were promised Business Rates reform to support the High streets, Growth and Hospitality. Hotels are up a staggering 115% British Pubs an untenable 76% and yet... Big corporate supermarkets only 4% Offices 7% Warehouses like Amazon 16% So much for support!! It's a disaster.

Pubs to raise pint prices to combat ‘tsunami’ of Budget costs. Business rates increase ‘another nail in the coffin’ telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/…

@UKHospKate About the same level of understanding of the industry as goverment has, no surprise of the indifference.

This is nonsense - businesses adjusting their offer to meet customer needs & tastes is precisely that. The cost of ingredients is a small part of the overall cost of delivering skilled hospitality experiencee, margins are wafer thin and 75% of any profits are paid in tax