Business Rates and business grants

Business Rate Reductions 2022-23

The 2022/23 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme will provide eligible, occupied, retail, hospitality and leisure properties with 50% relief (from the chargeable business rates amount), up to a cash cap limit of £110,000 per business.  Ratepayers that occupy more than one property will be entitled to relief for each of their eligible properties up to the maximum £110,00 cash cap, per business.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business Rates Relief scheme will be occupied business rated premises which are wholly or mainly being used:

• as shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues,
• for assembly and leisure; or
• as hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation,

We consider shops, restaurants, cafes, drinking establishments, cinemas and live music venues to mean:

Business premises that are being used for the sale of goods to visiting members of the public:

• Shops (such as: florists, bakers, butchers, grocers, greengrocers, jewellers, stationers, off licences, chemists, newsagents, hardware stores, supermarkets, etc)
• Charity shops
• Opticians
• Post offices
• Furnishing shops/ display rooms (such as: carpet shops, double glazing, garage doors)
• Car/caravan show rooms
• Second-hand car lots
• Markets
• Petrol stations
• Garden centres
• Art galleries (where art is for sale/hire)

Business premises that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:

• Hair and beauty services (such as: hairdressers, nail bars, beauty salons, tanning shops, etc)
• Shoe repairs/key cutting
• Travel agents
• Ticket offices e.g. for theatre
• Dry cleaners
• Launderettes
• PC/TV/domestic appliance repair
• Funeral directors
• Tool hire
• Car hire

Business premises that are being used for the sale of food and/or drink to visiting members of the public:

• Restaurants
• Takeaways
• Sandwich shops
• Coffee shops
• Pubs
• Bars

Business premises which are being used as cinemas

Business premises that are being used as live music venues:

• Live music venues are premises wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience. Venues cannot be considered a live music venue for the purpose of business rates relief where a venue is wholly or mainly used as a nightclub or a theatre, for the purposes of the Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 (as amended).
• Premises can be a live music venue even if used for other activities, but only if those other activities (i) are merely ancillary or incidental to the performance of live music (e.g. the sale/supply of alcohol to audience members) or (ii) do not affect the fact that the primary activity for the premises is the performance of live music (e.g. because those other activities are insufficiently regular or frequent, such as a polling station or a fortnightly community event).

We consider assembly and leisure to mean:

Venues that are being used for the provision of sport, leisure and facilities to visiting members of the public (including for the viewing of such activities).

• Sports grounds and clubs
• Museums and art galleries
• Nightclubs
• Sport and leisure facilities
• Stately homes and historic houses
• Theatres
• Tourist attractions
• Gyms
• Wellness centres, spas, massage parlours
• Casinos, gambling clubs and bingo halls

Venues that are being used for the assembly of visiting members of the public.

• Public halls
• Clubhouses, clubs and institutions

We consider hotels, guest & boarding premises and self-catering accommodation to mean:

Establishments where the non-domestic part is being used for the provision of living accommodation as a business:

• Hotels, Guest and Boarding Houses
• Holiday homes
• Caravan parks and sites

Establishments which are occupied but not wholly or mainly used for the qualifying purpose will not qualify for the relief.

Ineligible businesses

The Government has given a list of types of uses that it does not consider to be retail and thus, these properties will not benefit from the retail discount relief

Business premises that are being used for the provision of the following services to visiting members of the public:

• Financial services (e.g. banks, building societies, cash points, bureaux de change, short term loan providers, betting shops)
• Medical services (e.g. vets, dentists, doctors, osteopaths, chiropractors)
• Professional services (e.g. solicitors, accountants, insurance agents, financial advisors, employment agencies, letting agents, estate agents)
• Post office sorting offices

1. Venues that are not reasonably accessible to visiting members of the public

The Business Rates Relief scheme for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure is effective from 01 April 2022 and any businesses that meet the eligibility criteria will automatically be awarded the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief AFTER mandatory reliefs and other discretionary reliefs have been applied to the account.

Any business which does not wish to accept the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure relief please click here to complete the form and return to the Council's business rates team by email to: br@gloucester.gov.uk