A pub landlord has demanded a VAT cut from Rachel Reeves after his establishment received zero customers during peak weekend hours.
Speaking to GB News, Matt Todd from the Wonston Arms in Hampshire said having zero customers in his pub on a Saturday evening "really hit home", fearing the growing "fight for survival".
More than 1,100 hospitality venues including pubs and bars have closed following the Chancellor's October Budget.
PA / GB News
|Pub Landlord Matt Todd has demanded a VAT cut from Rachel Reeves after his pub saw zero customers over the weekend
Speaking to GB News host Martin Daubney, Todd declared that "things are changing" for the industry, and Britons are being forced to treat a pub trip "like a special event" due to rising costs.
Todd explained: "I think things are changing and that's fine, we can cope with change, but customers are just finding what was before a genuine pop in, pop out visit to the pub is now more of a special event, because the cost of everything's going up and the cost of a pint has gone up too."
In a now viral video shared by Todd on social media, the landlord revealed that he and his colleague were astounded to find no customers at their pub on a Saturday evening.
Recalling the events of the video, Todd told Martin: "I normally pull Lisa in to help me on a Saturday afternoon because it's a great time of the week and people have done things on a Saturday afternoon, swing by the pub before they go for a barbecue or go and do something in the evening, because we don't serve food here.
GB News
|Todd's pub saw zero customers turn up to their establishment on Saturday evening
"We're a pop and pop out kind of community pub, and I pulled a pint and there was nobody there. Last person left, I collected the glasses and went to the car park, and Lisa was just shocked. She was really shocked saying 'where is everybody at the moment?'
"And there's all sorts of things going on in the community, but this really hit it home to both of us that it's pretty frightening out there. It's a fight for survival and it's not great business."
Asked by Martin what needs to be done by the Labour Government to help the industry, Todd stated: "We need a cut in VAT from Rachel Reeves. We need a bit of a break, a reduction in VAT in hospitality that we'll invest back into pubs.
"I'll put that straight back into employing staff, I'll put that into investing in the venue, opening up longer hours and so that we can grow our business. I don't want to be stagnant and just hanging around, turning over and turning over and chasing the same thing. I want to grow this business and people want to come out more, and I need to invest in it to be able to do that."
GB News
|Todd told GB News that running his establishment is now a 'fight for survival'
Stressing the ongoing financial impact from the Coronavirus pandemic on his pub, Todd revealed he is "still paying his bounce back loans" that he took out at the time to cover the costs.
Todd concluded: "I've just got no resilience in my business now because we're five years down the line from Covid, and we're still paying back our bounce back loans every day.
"We have to trade and trade a figure to cover the overheads, and that's getting a scary, scary piece for me and thousands of publicans across the UK, that's what I hear when I speak to them."
He added: "And when Rachel Reeves said in October she was reducing the price of a pint by a penny, well, one pence, is that going to get anybody excited? It certainly never made its way to the pump, because that didn't get passed through the value chain."