30% business rates cut for high street hospitality and leisure venues

• Wealth of venues across Wales to see business rates cut by 30% from 1 April 2027.
• Small and medium-sized businesses with a rateable value below £51,000 to benefit with change fully funded.
• First Minister: This gives businesses the confidence to invest, grow and keep serving the communities that rely on them.

Pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars, licensed clubs, hotels, gyms, cinemas and other high street favourites across Wales are set to see their rates bills cut by 30% as the Welsh Government backs the businesses people depend on.

The move forms part of the Welsh Government's manifesto commitment to rebalance business rates and breathe new life into town centres.

This permanent support will exceed the 15% temporary relief for food and drink hospitality currently in place, giving businesses greater certainty to plan and invest for the future.

Businesses set to benefit include:

• food and drink hospitality venues: pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars, food courts, licensed clubs and live music venues
• visitor accommodation: hotels, guest houses and hostels
• leisure venues: cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums and gyms

Eligible small to medium sized properties with a rateable value below £51,000 will attract the permanent support. Retail shops will also continue to benefit from this support, which will build on the lower multiplier in place this year.

A small increase to the higher multiplier, which applies to the highest-value properties in Wales, will fund the support, without reducing the overall contribution business rates make to funding public services in Wales.

First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth said:

"Our high streets are the heartbeat of communities right across Wales, and the businesses that fill them deserve our backing.

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.

We're making the system work better for the sectors that bring our town centres to life."

The change sits alongside the work of the Town Centres Taskforce, which will consider what more tailored support individual town centres need, recognising that different parts of Wales face different challenges.

Cabinet Minister for Finance Elin Jones said:

"This significant and permanent change will make a real difference to eligible hospitality and leisure businesses right across Wales.

We've taken a balanced approach, ensuring this support is affordable while protecting the vital contribution business rates make to our public services targeting help where it will have the greatest impact on our high streets."

Regulations will be brought forward in the autumn and, subject to Senedd approval, will take effect from 1 April 2027.

The precise values of all multipliers for 2027-28 will be confirmed as part of budget preparations, following the UK Government's Autumn Budget.

Notes to editors

• Non-domestic rates (often referred to as business rates) bills in Wales are calculated by multiplying a property's rateable value by the relevant multiplier, which is set by the Welsh Government. Differential multipliers, introduced earlier this year by the previous Welsh Government, apply different rates depending on property type and value.

• From 2027-28, the scope of the lower multiplier (currently applied to retail shops) will be expanded to include selected hospitality and leisure property types: food and drink hospitality (pubs, restaurants, cafés, bars, food courts, licensed clubs and live music venues), visitor accommodation (hotels, guest houses and hostels) and leisure (cinemas, theatres, libraries, museums and gyms).

• Eligible properties within these sectors with a rateable value below £51,000 will be subject to the lower multiplier, resulting in a 30% reduction in their non-domestic rates bill.

• This permanent support exceeds the 15% temporary relief currently provided to food and drink hospitality businesses.

• The expanded scope of the lower multiplier will be offset, in revenue terms, by a marginal increase to the higher multiplier, which applies to the highest-value properties in the tax base.

• The difference between the higher multiplier and the standard multiplier for 2027-28 will increase by less than a penny in the pound, to around two pence in the pound.

• Much of the benefit to ratepayers on the higher multiplier from the decrease in all multipliers set for the current year, compared with recent years, will be retained.

• Permanent reliefs currently worth more than £200 million per year will continue to be available to eligible ratepayers across Wales, particularly small businesses, in addition to these changes.

• The precise values of the lower, standard and higher multipliers for 2027-28 will be confirmed as part of our budget preparations for 2027-28, following the UK Government's Autumn Budget.

• Regulations to implement the changes to the differential multipliers will be brought forward in autumn 2026. Subject to Senedd approval, they will take effect from 1 April 2027.