The UK’s hospitality industry is bracing for the latest in painful hits due to the government raising taxes across the spectrum.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, if current plans are enacted, the scale of the tax increases will be large by historic standards. These will start this month with an increase in rates of National Insurance Contributions and a cash freeze in income tax thresholds and be followed by an increase in corporation tax rates in April 2023. The overall impact will be to gradually ramp up the UK tax burden by an eventual 2% of GDP, according to the Treasury’s own scorecard.

According to whose figures you accept, this will mean your average UK adult will see an increase of taxes somewhere between £500 to £1,000 pounds a year. Luxury items such as a pub drink or buying a special bottle won’t be possible for many.

Already, distilleries and brewers were struggling with an increase in the cost and availability of raw materials such as grain and glass for packaging – and this was before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

With small pubs and non-chain restaurants struggling to survive since Covid, there is fear that this could be the final nail in the coffin for some.