Outdoor dining and live music are at the heart of a new plan for high streets (Image: Jeff Greenberg / Sarah Jeynes/Jamie Simmonds)
Disused shops in the nation’s high streets will be transformed into cafes, bars and music under plans for a town centre renaissance. Permission for alfresco dining, extended opening hours and street parties will be fast-tracked in new “hospitality zones”.
Long-standing music venues will be protected against noise complaints from new developments. The reforms are part of a “small business plan” to be unveiled this week.
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The assault on red tape comes after the Government has faced fierce criticism for hiking employers’ National Insurance contributions and cuts to business rate relief. But a new “national licensing policy framework” is intended to cut the “cost, complexity and time it takes to open and operate hospitality venues”.
The new measures, the Government states, will ensure “the buzz of the high street can thrive without being silenced”. Developers will be responsible for soundproofing buildings built near existing pubs, clubs or music venues. And entrepreneurs who want to turn vacant shops into venues will “face fewer forms, faster decisions, and lower costs”.
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Read more: Huge UK music venue shutting doors in weeks in blow to major city
Read more: The once thriving high street that's now part of 'dying ghost town'
Councils already have the power to auction off leases for commercial properties which have been empty for more than a year.
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Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “This Government has a plan to replace shuttered up shops with vibrant places to socialise, turning them into thriving cafés or busy bars, which supports local jobs and gives people a place to get together and catch up over a beer or a coffee. Red tape has stood in the way of people’s business ideas for too long.
“Today we’re slashing those barriers to giving small business owners the freedom to flourish. From faster cafe openings to easier alfresco dining, our plan for change will put the buzz back into our town centres and money back into the pockets of local entrepreneurs, because when small businesses thrive, communities come alive.”
Chancellor Rachel Reeves added: “Whether it’s cheering on the Lionesses or catching up with friends, our pubs and bars are at the heart of British life. For too long, they’ve been stifled by clunky, outdated rules.
“We’re binning them – to protect pavement pints, alfresco dining and street parties – not just for the summer, but all year round.”
Kate Nicholls, who chairs UK Hospitality, said: “We strongly welcome these proposals to cut red tape and make it easier to open and operate hospitality venues, create jobs and grow the economy. Measures like streamlined licensing, hospitality zones, and protections for existing venues are positive steps which we have been pushing for some time.
“We know that hospitality is the key to reinvigorate our vital high streets, breathe life into neighbourhoods and support local communities and this is a welcome first step towards unlocking that. But positive and encouraging as these measures certainly are, they can’t on their own offset the immediate and mounting cost pressures facing hospitality businesses which threaten to tax out of existence the businesses and jobs that today’s announcement seeks to support.
“Let’s hope that this is just the start of a bold, long term plan for the high streets and hospitality, with reforms implemented swiftly and the promise of permanent lower business rates delivered in full at the next Budget to secure these new opportunities for all.”
Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “With the Women’s Euros final bringing communities together to watch and enjoy in our pubs, bars, cafes and community venues tonight, this move is a welcome win for small firms. By cutting red tape this enables small business to serve more customers outdoors.
“Let’s hope this is just the kick-off to a bold, long-term small business plan.”
Neema Rai of the UK Spirits Alliance welcomed the plan but said: “If we want to protect our bars and pubs, a unique place in Britain’s cultural heart, let’s make them affordable. Seventy per cent of a bottle of gin is taken in tax; we need to start considering the impact of these measures.”
Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “After bringing together key voices in the pubs and the wider hospitality sector, it’s great news that many of the industry’s recommendations on how best to cut red-tape and support growth will be acted on. Red tape smothers pubs and wider hospitality which means communities and the economy miss out so, given pubs are struggling right now, it’s vital these are implemented at pace.
“These changes must go hand in hand with meaningful business rates reform, mitigating staggering employment costs, and cutting beer duty so pubs can thrive at the heart of the community.”
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A Reform UK spokesman said: “Any Labour plans for our high streets ring hollow. Their much-touted Industrial Strategy made no mention of hospitality and the high street, completely ignoring over seven million people employed by the sector and 70% of the UK economy. Anything short of abolishing business rates for high street businesses and levelling the playing field with large, multinational enterprises will not be worth the paper it’s written on.”
Conservative Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “Though any cutting of red tape for hospitality businesses is welcome, this is pure hypocrisy and inconsistency from Labour. This socialist government is crippling the hospitality industry by doubling business rates, imposing a Jobs Tax and a full-on strangulation of employment red tape.
“As the result, shorter opening hours, shedding jobs and expensive pints are becoming the norm. Only the Conservatives are on the side of the makers and will support businesses across Britain to create jobs and wealth.”
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