A combination of war and a determined effort to minimise the status of the Spring Statement did little to suppress the anger around the hospitality and high street retail sector that the government is simply not listening to its existential fears. It didn’t help that pub operator Brewdog fell on its sword and laid off 500 staff and closed 38 bars in its survival sale unveiled the same day. The high street woes, it seems, will not go away no matter how upbeat the Chancellor tries to be.
The owner of the Old Thatch Pub in Dorset has spoken out for thousands of UK landlords by stating the Chancellor’s failure to acknowledge the challenges facing the hospitality sector in the Spring Statement is “really, really frustrating.”
With the industry continuing to labour under prohibitive tax and operational cost increases, Andy Lennox criticised Rachel Reeves’ claim that the government’s economic plan is “the right one,” citing the high number of venue closures.
“Against a backdrop of when you’ve just lost 36 pubs yesterday, 500 jobs, to say that everything’s fine and to say that the budget is going the right way and everything they’re doing is correct, it’s just beyond me, really,” Lennox told GB News.
“It’s really, really frustrating that they are saying that everything is all right when actually the volatility in the industry is just enormous.”
Addressing MPs on 3 March, Reeves said “the plan that I have been driving forward since the election is the right one, stability in our public finances, investment in our infrastructure and reform to Britain’s economy.”
However, Lennox disputed the claims of stability, adding “we’re sitting against a backdrop of enormous amounts of taxation, all of the things that basically went into the budget, in the first budget, and in the second budget still haven’t been fixed.”
Where spin and reality clash
Andy Lennox said… “It’s really, really frustrating that they are saying that everything is all right when actually the volatility in the industry is just enormous…
Originally published on Coinslot on March 9, 2026. Republished with permission.