Wales cuts business rates 30% for hospitality and leisure
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The Welsh Government has announced a permanent 30% cut to business rates for hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value below £51,000, from 1 April 2027. It goes further than the 20% cut announced for England in July, and reaches a wider set of premises, including hotels, gyms and cinemas.
Business rates are devolved, and the four UK nations run separate multipliers, thresholds and relief schemes. Food and drink hospitality properties in Wales currently hold a 15% relief for 2026/27, capped at £110,000 per business across Wales and funded by an additional £8 million, set out in a written statement on 3 February 2026. That relief is temporary, runs for a single year and is claimed through the local authority. The scheme announced on 15 September 2026 replaces that annual cycle with permanent support.
What the Welsh Government has announced
The cut applies to eligible small and medium-sized properties with a rateable value below £51,000, from 1 April 2027. It covers food and drink venues, including pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars and licensed clubs, visitor accommodation such as hotels, guest houses and hostels, and leisure premises including gyms, cinemas, theatres and museums. Retail shops benefit as well. The Welsh Government describes the support as permanent, funded by a small increase to the higher multiplier, and says it will exceed the 15% temporary relief for food and drink hospitality now in place while building on the lower multiplier already applied to shops this year.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, first minister, said: “This 30% cut to rates for pubs, cafés, gyms, hotels and so many other local favourites is about giving those businesses the confidence to invest, grow and keep serving the communities that rely on them.” Elin Jones, cabinet minister for finance, said the change would “make a real difference to eligible hospitality and leisure businesses right across Wales”.
How it compares with England
England is moving on the same date, by a smaller margin. In July 2026 the government set out a 20% cut to business rates bills for pubs, social clubs and live music venues in England from April 2027, reaching around 32,000 properties and worth an estimated £1,100 a year to a typical pub, with the very largest live music venues excluded. Wales is cutting by a larger percentage and across a broader category: an operator running a gym, a hotel or a coffee shop falls inside the Welsh scheme and outside the English one. England separately introduced two lower retail, hospitality and leisure multipliers for 2026/27, at 38.2p for small business properties and 43.0p for standard ones.
Good to know
Business rates and their reliefs are devolved. A figure published for England does not apply in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, and each nation sets its own multipliers, thresholds and schemes. The £51,000 threshold announced this week is a Welsh figure and applies to properties in Wales only.
What the threshold means for multi-site operators
The test is the rateable value of the property, not the size of the business occupying it. A single high street unit, the format most franchised food, fitness and beauty networks trade from in Wales, normally sits below £51,000, while large-format sites, big-box leisure and the larger hotels sit above it. For an operator holding several units, the question is how many properties clear the threshold, and whether the scheme carries a cash cap per business. The Welsh Government has not published a cap for the new scheme; the temporary relief it succeeds carries one of £110,000. The number of properties covered and the cost of the package are not published either.
What comes next
The operating detail, including eligibility wording and any cap, follows in the Welsh budget process before April 2027. David Chapman, executive director of UKHospitality Cymru, said: “The Welsh Government has recognised that hospitality and leisure businesses are suffering under a huge tax burden and I’m pleased they have acted to reduce business rates bills for the majority.” The wider tax question stays open on both sides of the border: more than 800 hospitality businesses signed an open letter this week asking for a 10% VAT rate for the sector, ahead of the Budget on 28 October. Operators weighing a Welsh site can compare terms across the UK franchise directory.