Newcastle has been urged to follow Nottingham’s lead in scrapping “unfair” charges on late-night pubs, bars and clubs.
Tyneside venues that serve alcohol after midnight have been made to pay an annual levy of up to £4,400 to council bosses since 2013. But, after the East Midlands city axed its scheme in order to reduce the financial burden on businesses trying to recover from the devastation of the Covid pandemic, a top hospitality boss has urged Newcastle City Council to follow suit.
Ollie Vaulkhard, whose Vaulkhard Group runs popular sites including Barluga and the Bridge Tavern, complained that he “can’t see any benefit” from the tax, which Newcastle was the first place in the country to impose.
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Only a handful of authorities charge a late-night levy, most of which are in London, and Liverpool is the only other city in the North of England to do so. The fee is set at between £299 and £4,400 per year depending on the size of a venue, with the income split between the council and the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner to spend on cutting crime and reducing the negative impact of the night-time economy.
In Newcastle city centre, venues also pay towards the NE1 Business Improvement District (BID). While Mr Vaulkhard says that the BID is “visibly giving something back to the city” through clean-up and regeneration projects, he claims the late-night levy “just disappears into a mismanaged swamp”. He also hit out at a “farcical” situation that saw the levy charged throughout the Covid pandemic – even when pubs, bars and clubs were barred from opening or subject to 10pm curfews.
Mr Vaulkhard told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are a massively taxed industry and an industry with a lot of challenges. I can’t see any benefit from the levy. It just goes to fill budgets and I know the council and the police will say they need to fill budgets. But they should be challenging the Government or doing things differently themselves to do that. Instead they just take it off venues and we can’t say no.”
He added: “Depending on how big the venue is, the levy can cost you £4,000-a-year. That is an extra member of door staff on busy nights, another person working behind the bar or on the toilets, another person offering support to customers. I just think it is unfair. I am pleased to see Nottingham has got rid of it and I hope Newcastle does the same.”
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) warned in 2020 that it was “simply not right” for pubs to be forced to pay the levy when they had been closed for months at the height of the pandemic, while former city council leader Nick Forbes called on the Government to give local authorities the power to reduce or waive the levy fees. Councillors in Nottingham decided to scrap their levy last week after being told it would “reduce the burden” on businesses fighting back from the cost of the pandemic, though Nottinghamshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner warned removing it could hinder their efforts to cut crime and disorder.
Coun Irim Ali, Newcastle City Council's cabinet member responsible for licensing and regulation, said: “The Late Night Levy is used to support the hidden costs of the night time economy. This includes keeping people safe through extra policing, taxi marshals, CCTV monitoring, providing vulnerability training to people working in the night time economy, supporting business to become best practice premises - and not just those that merely meet minimum standards, with Safe Havens and Shout up Training. We want Newcastle to be dynamic, vibrant, and accessible for all.
“We petitioned Government to allow us to suspend the levy during the pandemic and write off amounts that were due when businesses could not operate. This was not permitted so instead we brought in grants to support late night levy businesses, some of which were 125% of the amount they owed for the levy.
“We know that city centre footfall is recovering. The support we provide could not be funded if it were not for the levy.
“Over the next twelve months we will review our licensing policy to make sure it is fit for purpose and undoubtedly this issue will arise in the consultation. We will listen to all views.”
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