Donald MacLeod: Scottish pubs trade is sadly drinking in last chance saloon

IF you’re doing Dry January, don’t worry – your agonising, detoxing days are almost over.

Welcome news for you and the perfect tonic for your struggling local pub.

The bad news, or good – depending on your views on alcohol and health – is that, unless the Scottish Government stops ducking and diving over its new eye-watering and contentious business rates, then it’s a dry year rather than month which will be on the cards.

A brutal act of betrayal from a Government whose Deputy First Minister last year promised that the Scottish business rates system would be as fair and effective as possible.

Really?

Since when could a whopping 300% rise, which some businesses have reported, be deemed as fair?

Hotels face an average rates rise of 48%, licensed trade members an average increase of 14%.

Not the unsubstantiated rise of 2% claimed by the Scottish Assessors Association. As a nightclub owner I have been hit with a shocking increase of 97% (almost £100,000) and I’m not alone.

Hotels, restaurants, pubs and clubs across the country have been walloped with increases way above the laughable 2%.

And I have yet to hear of any business within the hospitality sector whose rateable value has gone down.

And, as the horror stories pour in, anger and resentment grows with the SNP administration.

The Scottish Government is in great danger of losing some of its most ardent supporters and any chance it thought it might have of winning any second referendum.

I am still finding it hard to get my head around its acceptance of the SAA’s review.

It would, of course, help if First Minister Nicola Sturgeon or Finance Minister Derek Mackay would step out from the shadows and respond to those serious concerns which have been raised by the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, British Hospitality Sector, Scottish Beer and Pub Association and The Scottish Tourism Alliance.

Not a peep!

We’d also like to know why the hospitality sector’s rateable values are based on turnover and not, as the supermarkets are, on square footage.

In effect, the hospitality sector has become a piggy bank regularly emptied and heavily penalised for trying, against all the odds, to be successful.

While the off-trade, responsible for selling more than 75% of Scotland’s alcohol – making millions in the process – are given generous incentives and reductions.

Outrageous!

Why is the licensed trade continually treated with such contempt?

As Paul Waterson, head of the SLTA, points out: “Scotland’s pubs, bars and hospitality sector are integral to the Scottish economy with the sector contributing £1.5 billion to the economy and generating in excess of £900m in tax revenues.”

Stuart Patrick, head of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, adds: “These increases come at a difficult time with increasing costs and fragile demand.

“For businesses that don’t qualify for the small business relief, next year’s rates demands could be the last straw.”

Why is the Scottish Government so insensitive to the trade’s needs, worries and financial concerns when, over the years, it has given Scotland so much back?

I hope the GCC and other trade bodies’ interventions are successful because, quite frankly, the Government’s high-handed, obtuse stance on this very serious matter is an absolute disgrace.

If not? Well, that scenario is too depressing to even contemplate.