Last Orders Report Launched

With just one month until the Chancellor’s Spring Statement, Night Time Economy Advisor Sacha Lord has today issued a stark warning to the Treasury that without urgent intervention, the country risks losing one of its most vibrant and economically vital sectors.

The warning coincides with the release of Lord’s Last Orders Report, produced in collaboration with think-tank The Adam Smith Institute, which highlights the mounting financial pressures on the sector and offers a series of urgent policy recommendations to prevent widespread closures.

Sacha Lord commented,

“As someone who has spent years championing this industry, I know how resilient, creative, and vital it is, not just for social cohesion, but for jobs, businesses and the wider economy. However, the pressures on the sector are now at unprecedented levels.

“New tax policies and rising energy and wage costs, combined with a cost-of-living crisis, mean that while venues might still see footfall, the numbers simply don’t add up. Customers, particularly younger people, have less disposable income, while businesses face soaring costs that are pushing them to the brink, and pricing consumers out as a result. It’s a lose-lose situation, and without a considered, long-term approach to the solutions—many of which are readily available—I fear we’re causing the industry irreversible damage."

The Last Orders report exposes the true scale of the crisis, revealing that:

• The hospitality sector will face a £3.4 billion tax bill in April due to upcoming tax changes.

• Operating costs have surged by 30 to 40% in the past year.

• 85% of businesses in the hospitality sector are planning to cut hours or salaries.

• 97% of operators have frozen investment, stalling growth and innovation.

The report also highlights the structural challenges facing the sector, including excessive regulation, unsustainable tax burdens and shifting social habits, and suggests that without intervention, the UK faces mass closures, job losses and irreversible damage to its world-renowned nightlife.

The Key Recommendations proposed within the report are: 

• Implement a sector-specific VAT reduction to ease financial pressures on businesses.

• Defer the reduction in business rate relief to provide continued support for struggling venues.

• Rethink the tax burden on hospitality, ensuring a fairer and more sustainable system.

• Support high streets with hospitality-led regeneration, fostering economic growth and community engagement.

• Rethink National Insurance to provide relief for businesses and support job creation.

• Conduct a fundamental review of energy costs, addressing one of the biggest financial strains on the sector.

Blaming a lack of transparency for the current economic climate, Lord continued:

“We all want immediate relief, but both the previous and current governments have exacerbated this crisis with short-term thinking and stopgap measures that fail to provide real security for businesses. I cannot understand the reluctance to set out a long-term vision that we can all see, support, and trust in.

"If there is no clear direction for where the UK will be in 20 years, it is impossible to build credibility in any business strategy, which is where mistrust, anger and division rises up. This isn’t about politics, it’s about securing the future of an essential industry. If businesses cannot see or trust in what lies ahead, they will turn to those offering an alternative path even if it leads in the wrong direction.

"This report is a call to policymakers to wake up, speak up and take action to ensure the survival and growth of our industry. If we lose these businesses, we lose culture, social spaces and livelihoods and the government must listen, engage and act before it’s too late.”

The Last Orders Report can be viewed here.