‘There has to be a bolder shift’: retail and hospitality businesses assess relief in budget

James Nye, the managing director of Anglian Country Inns, at the White Horse gastropub in Norfolk. Photograph: Joshua Bright/The Guardian View image in fullscreen James Nye, the managing director of Anglian Country Inns, at the White Horse gastropub in Norfolk. Photograph: Joshua Bright/The Guardian ‘There has to be a bolder shift’: retail and hospitality businesses assess relief in budget Chancellor cuts business rates for more small businesses and limits rise in minimum wage for younger workers Budget 2026: key points at a glance “It is like letting the tyres down and then handing you a pump,” says James Nye, assessing the relief handed to businesses in John Healey’s first budget as chancellor. The managing director of Norfolk’s Anglian Country Inns argues that the budget made a “couple of steps towards helping” but added more labour costs for already burdened companies. Nye, who employs 500 people at the height of the season at its 10 venues across Norfolk and Hertfordshire, was among those business owners watching Healey carefully on Wednesday, after two previous Labour budgets under Rachel Reeves had loaded extra costs on to businesses. Healey aimed to help high street operators . The chancellor put a lid on increases to business rates, so they will only rise in line with inflation for two years, and clamped down on VAT dodging , among other measures intended to help high streets. However, some businesses argued Andy Burnham’s chancellor could have gone further. Pets Corner, family-owned retailer View image in fullscreen Dean Richmond: ‘When offline retailers all but disappear the world will miss us.’ Photograph: Pets CornerDean Richmond, the owner of the Pets Corner chain, says the chancellor has not fixed the “fundamental problem” that its costs are rising faster than it can increase sales. The family-owned business, founded by Richmond’s parents in 1968, now employs 1,200 people and has 159 stores. He does not expect to get much benefit from the increase in the threshold at which business rates begin to be paid. “It’s a bit ‘moving the deckchairs on the Titanic’ on rates. There has to be a bolder shift if the government is going to help offline retail,” Richmond says. He welcomed the move to ensure that online marketplaces such as Amazon collect VAT from more sellers, but was disappointed that Healey did not bring forward the end of tax breaks for online sellers, such as Shein and Temu, importing cheaper items from overseas. “It feels like the world’s against us.