The proposal by Gordon Brown in his Budget speech to levy stamp duty on leasehold properties at 1% of the capitalised value of rental paid under the entire lease term was greeted by a chorus of protests from bodies representing the leisure and hospitality industry.
However, what is needed is not a chorus, but one loud, recognised, champion speaking for the whole industry, an umbrella organisation that chancellors and secretaries of state can accept as the sole voice of one of the biggest business sectors in the country.
This is easier said that done, of course. But the problems that not speaking with one voice cause the industry were made clear only two years ago, when the National Farmers Union had the ear of the government as it tried to combat foot-and-mouth disease. The leisure and hospitality industry woke up too late to the impact the measures being taken to tackle the crisis were having on tourism, and on pubs, hotels and restaurants, and because – unlike farmers – it did not have one organisation with a direct line to Whitehall, it, and the country, lost billions of pounds as the government tried to protect an agricultural interest worth less than a tenth as much, and employing a fraction of the people employed in hospitality.
As the foot-and-mouth crisis died down in August 2001, Barry Gardiner, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Leisure Industry Group, begged the different bodies in the sector to "get their act together and speak with one voice" in future. Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, concurred that the industry needed "a mechanism to reach agreed positions so it can lobby as one." Nothing, however, seems to have been done. The next crisis, over the new licensing Bill, unfolded with Kim Howells, the minister in charge of licensing, begging the hospitality industry to speak to him with one voice so he could have some idea of what the industry thought it needed. Instead the progress of the Bill seems to be led by Westminster Council and the pro-restriction lobby, which has the advantage over the hospitality industry right now of following a single-minded agenda with a clear mission to achieve.
Now Gordon Brown, in an attempt to block a tax loophole apparently exploited by the property industry, is in danger of dropping several tons of cement on the heads of he hospitality industry. Everybody knew something like this was coming, but no voice seems to have been loud enough to attract the attention of the man in Number 11 to alert him to the problems. The BHA, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, Business in Leisure and Sport, all worthy organisations run by excellent, hard-working men and women, have rushed in post-budget to cry and protest, but they are none of them the CBI, let alone the NFU.
David Coffer, chairman of Davis Coffer Lyons and president of the Restaurant Property Advisers Society, points out that Brown is giving the world until December 1 to make him change his mind on this subject. Coffer says: "The leisure sector hasn't got a lot of time therefore to get its armour on and for once, to speak with one voice and express their extreme concern at the effects that these proposals will have on our already weakened industry. We need somebody to lead the way and to be a spokesman for all types of operators, especially those paying massive rentals on hotels, health & fitness, golf clubs, and so on. Any candidates for leadership?"
Step forward now, please. Because you will assuredly be required to speak for the industry again, and again, and again, whenever another crisis turns up that affects everybody from the biggest international hotel chain to the smallest pub company, just like this one.
However, what is needed is not a chorus, but one loud, recognised, champion speaking for the whole industry, an umbrella organisation that chancellors and secretaries of state can accept as the sole voice of one of the biggest business sectors in the country.
This is easier said that done, of course. But the problems that not speaking with one voice cause the industry were made clear only two years ago, when the National Farmers Union had the ear of the government as it tried to combat foot-and-mouth disease. The leisure and hospitality industry woke up too late to the impact the measures being taken to tackle the crisis were having on tourism, and on pubs, hotels and restaurants, and because – unlike farmers – it did not have one organisation with a direct line to Whitehall, it, and the country, lost billions of pounds as the government tried to protect an agricultural interest worth less than a tenth as much, and employing a fraction of the people employed in hospitality.
As the foot-and-mouth crisis died down in August 2001, Barry Gardiner, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Leisure Industry Group, begged the different bodies in the sector to "get their act together and speak with one voice" in future. Bob Cotton, chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, concurred that the industry needed "a mechanism to reach agreed positions so it can lobby as one." Nothing, however, seems to have been done. The next crisis, over the new licensing Bill, unfolded with Kim Howells, the minister in charge of licensing, begging the hospitality industry to speak to him with one voice so he could have some idea of what the industry thought it needed. Instead the progress of the Bill seems to be led by Westminster Council and the pro-restriction lobby, which has the advantage over the hospitality industry right now of following a single-minded agenda with a clear mission to achieve.
Now Gordon Brown, in an attempt to block a tax loophole apparently exploited by the property industry, is in danger of dropping several tons of cement on the heads of he hospitality industry. Everybody knew something like this was coming, but no voice seems to have been loud enough to attract the attention of the man in Number 11 to alert him to the problems. The BHA, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, Business in Leisure and Sport, all worthy organisations run by excellent, hard-working men and women, have rushed in post-budget to cry and protest, but they are none of them the CBI, let alone the NFU.
David Coffer, chairman of Davis Coffer Lyons and president of the Restaurant Property Advisers Society, points out that Brown is giving the world until December 1 to make him change his mind on this subject. Coffer says: "The leisure sector hasn't got a lot of time therefore to get its armour on and for once, to speak with one voice and express their extreme concern at the effects that these proposals will have on our already weakened industry. We need somebody to lead the way and to be a spokesman for all types of operators, especially those paying massive rentals on hotels, health & fitness, golf clubs, and so on. Any candidates for leadership?"
Step forward now, please. Because you will assuredly be required to speak for the industry again, and again, and again, whenever another crisis turns up that affects everybody from the biggest international hotel chain to the smallest pub company, just like this one.
