In 2026-27, all pubs and live music venues will benefit from a 15% business rates relief on top of the support announced at the Budget 2025. Their bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years.

Eligibility

Pubs

Relief will be awarded to pubs that meet all of the following characteristics:

• is open to the general public
• allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided
• allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed
• permits drinks to be purchased at a bar

For these purposes, the meaning of pub does not include:

• restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars
• hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses
• sporting venues
• festival sites, theatres, concert halls, cinemas
• museums, exhibition halls
• casinos

The proposed exclusions in the list in the paragraph above is not intended to be exhaustive and it will be for the Local Authority to determine those cases where eligibility is unclear.

Live music venues

Live music venues are properties that are:

• wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience
• can be used for other activities but only if those other activities are:
  • ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (for example, the sale of food or drink to audience members)
  • do not affect the primary use of the premises for the performance of live music (for example, because the activities are infrequent such as use of the venue as a polling station or fortnightly community event)

Properties are not eligible for this relief if the property is wholly or mainly used as a nightclub or a theatre, for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended).

What you’ll get

If you are a pub or live music venue that meets one of the above definitions, you will benefit from 15% business rates relief in 2026-27. This relief will apply on top of any Transitional Relief or Supporting Small Business Relief you are eligible for.

Your business rates bill will then be frozen in real terms in 2027-28 and 2028-29, meaning it will only go up by inflation in those years.  

To get an estimate of what your business rates bill will be next year, including this relief please see Estimate your business rates liability for pubs and live music venues in England - GOV.UK.

This relief will be automatically applied to eligible accounts and therefore there is no formal application process.

As with other reliefs, the amount awarded will be recalculated in the event of a change of circumstances.

This could include, for example, a backdated change to the rateable value or to the hereditament. This applies to change of circumstances arising during the year in question or during a later year.