Pub group Young’s suffers £11m hit from Budget tax rises

Pub chain Young’s expects to take an £11 million annual hit from a hike in employer taxes announced in the autumn Budget.

Chief executive Simon Dodd said the impact of a rise in employer national insurance payments, combined with an increase to the minimum wage, would result in “significant increased costs for our industry in the near term”.

He added: “We will work to see how we can mitigate these headwinds without passing on all the cost to our loyal customers.

“We would like to see certainty and delivery of real business rate reform which will benefit all hospitality businesses”

Young’s joins fellow pub group JD Wetherspoon in criticising the measures, announced by Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, with the latter’s boss, Tim Martin, saying costs would jump “substantially” as a result.

It comes as Young’s reported higher half-year profit, helped by a bump in sales from the Euros football tournament over the summer.

Pre-tax profit for the half ending September 30 was £25.3 million, up 3.3% on the same period last year, while revenue rose 27.2% to £250 million.

Mr Dodd added that the company’s recent acquisition of the 55-pub-strong City Pub Group had been successful, but that summer weather had hampered business.

He said: “I am very pleased with our performance and the progress we have made during the period, which has been achieved despite some challenges.

“The weather was frustrating yet again, with a wet spring and limited periods of prolonged sunshine during the summer months, however, Euro 2024 and England’s successful run to the final, provided a welcome boost to drink sales with our pubs performing exceptionally well on match days”.