Why does Labour hate our pubs?

In 1955, the Labour Party published a song book, compiling what it described as “Labour Anthems, Traditional Songs and Community Favourites”. Among them is a song named “The Man That Waters the Workers’ Beer”, which was said to be frequently performed at social gatherings by Norman Willis, the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress between 1984 and 1993:

A drop of beer is good for a man who’s thirsty, tired, and hot.

And sometimes I have a drop for myself from a very special lot.

But a fat and wealthy working class is the thing that I most fear,

So I reaches my hand for the water tap, and I waters the workers’ beer.

The song recognised the importance of a nice pint or two at the end of a hard day’s graft, and satirised those who sought to reduce the amount of grog that workers are drinking, all the while extracting as much profit as possible from the sales of alcohol.

It is fortunate for Norman Willis that he is no longer around to witness what the current Labour Party are up to. 

Last week, Labour expanded their overencumbering business rate regime by urging officials to levy higher business rates on pubs, in particular those that find themselves in “character properties” or “attractive locations”.

Under the new guidelines, assessors are expected to place greater emphasis on factors such as scenic views, riverside locations, outdoor play areas, parking facilities, and “premium-priced menus” when calculating rateable values. Pubs which find themselves falling victim to this extortionate extraction of money will include those which “have a good local following and play an active role in their local communities”. This means, basically, that the better the pub, the higher the rates bill.

The language used shows that Labour are actively targeting pubs that are known to be central to local communities. Higher rates bills will translate directly into higher costs for the consumer, who, already suffering from stagnant wage growth and record-high bills, is less likely than ever to be able to justify the cost of a pint. People will simply stop going to the pub, or will do so at the cost of ever-increasing financial instability.

There is no other way to look at this than the Labour Government seeking to kill off the public house. 

This decision to increase business rates on pubs comes less than five months after the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, promised to U-turn on increasing business rates. As The Guardian reported, “Government sources said on Thursday the chancellor was finalising a support package for the struggling industry that would include reductions to business rates for pubs, which had been facing a 76% rise on average over the next three years.” Rachel Reeves’s promises are not worth the paper they were printed on.

The entire Labour Party has been committed to falsehoods in this regard. In the Party’s 2024 Manifesto, it criticised the business rates system, saying it “places an undue burden on our high streets”. The Party then promised to “replace the business rates system” with something “fairer” that would “tackle empty properties and support entrepreneurship”. Rather than do any of this, they have increased business rates, which will undoubtedly lead to more pubs closing their doors — putting entrepreneurs out of business and creating yet more empty buildings on our nation’s high street. There is nothing ambiguous about Labour’s claims here, nor can it simply be construed as misleading. They have lied to the public on multiple accounts on this issue, and have done the exact opposite of what they were elected to do. 

The picture for Britain’s pubs is stark. Pubs are closing this year at a rate of two per day — 161 in the first three months of 2026 — with job losses estimated at around 2,400. This is almost double the rate of pub closures compared to the previous year, with 336 pubs closing their doors for good in 2025. Data from the British Beer & Pub Association reveals that we have over 16,000 fewer pubs than we did at the beginning of the millennium. 

The second-order consequences of this are dire, and contribute to the growing scandal of record high youth unemployment. Gone are the days when young people, unable to find other work or wishing simply to top up their funds while at university, could easily find a job in the hospitality sector. The sector itself, while challenging, is fun to work in. The camaraderie between staff and regular punters, old and young, especially towards the end of a long shift, is a benefit you cannot find in other jobs, and one which, unfortunately, a decreasing number of young people will experience. 

The pub is integral to the fabric of British society and culture, in all its forms, and in all regions

I’ve been fortunate to have worked at two pubs in the past five years. Happily, both are still open — for now. The price of a pint can only be raised so high before the ordinary person finds themself unable and/or unwilling to purchase it. 

The pub is integral to the fabric of British society and culture, in all its forms, and in all regions. It has been so for centuries. To wilfully abandon the beating heart of our communities for the sake of a measly few million in taxes — inevitably to be pissed up the wall as if from those wandering home sloshed from our treasured taverns — should be viewed as nothing less than treason.