Pubs and restaurants will disappear from high streets unless business rates are cut, chain bosses warn

PUBS and restaurants will be wiped off the high street because of rocketing business rates, the Chancellor has been warned.

Owners of companies including Pizza Express, Greene King, Wagamama, All Bar One and the Slug & Lettuce wrote to Philip Hammond urging him to rethink the rise.

Some businesses will be hit by 42 percent increases under the planned hike in April that could add up to £500 million in costs to the hospitality sector.

Bosses of restaurant and bar chains that together employ over a million people signed the letter that states the industry was “not prepared for the significant rises”.

They said: “Margins in our sector are already under intense pressure. We have already seen evidence of outlets closing as a result of the planned increase.”