Pub and live music venue relief
Pubs and Live Music Venue Relief 2026/27
Eligible pubs and live music venues in England will receive a 15% reduction on their business rates bills for the 2026/27 financial year.
Eligible business rates bills will be frozen in real terms in 2027/28 and 2028/29.
To qualify the property must be wholly or mainly used as a pub or as a live music venue, open to the general public, allowing free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided, drinking without requiring food to be consumed and permits drinks to be purchased at a bar.
The meaning of a pub does not include, restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, snack bars, hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses, sporting venues, festival sites, theatres, cinemas, museums, exhibition halls or casinos. The proposed exclusions are not intended to be exhaustive and it will be for Southend-on-Sea City Council to determine those cases where eligibility is unclear.
We will automatically award this relief to those ratepayers who we believe fit the criteria and this will show on the 2026/27 annual bill.
If you have received a 2026/27 annual bill and no relief is showing but you believe you meet the criteria you can apply using a general enquiry form www.southend.gov.uk/NDRGenEnq