Raising taxes, raising business rates and raising the cost of employing staff – it’s not a good look for a Government seeking to drive growth in the economy. And the industry once singled out as the force behind that growth is turning on the very government that depended on it to deliver economic recovery. A trawl through social media will find posting after posting from the amusements and gaming industry calling UK Gov out. Now restaurateurs are giving a tip to the government.
The owner of the casual dining chain Leon has become the latest UK hospitality leader to criticise the government’s taxation of the industry.
Speaking to The Telegraph, John Vincent expressed his belief that legislators are actively attempting to undermine SMEs operating across the sector.
“It has a lot of good ideas about how to destroy business, and it is deploying a lot of them,” said Vincent. “You start to wonder if it is doing it deliberately. I don’t think Sir Keir Starmer understands entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises.”
“We either have politicians who studied PPE, which has nothing to do with life, or people who studied law, like Tony Blair and Sir Keir. When you only have a hammer, every problem looks nail shaped. When you are a lawyer, you default to legislation. But when you have not been part of a thriving entrepreneurial community, you don’t know how they tick.”
Vincent knows first hand how Government policies are impacting the entire hospitality sector. He co-founded Leon in 2004 and sold it in 2021 for £100m, before reacquiring the company last year for a rumoured £40m.
He has since set about reducing the company’s restaurant estate from 68 to 50, telling the Guardian “my job now is to come back and embed a culture of what good looks like.”
Government panned
John Vincent said… “It has a lot of good ideas about how to destroy business, and it is deploying a lot of them. You start to wonder if it is doing it deliberately. ..
Originally published on Coinslot on March 30, 2026. Republished with permission.