The boss of one of Britain’s biggest pub companies has warned the government that the hospitality sector is “not out of the woods” as he called for action on business rates and alcohol duty.

Nick Mackenzie, 53, Greene King’s chief executive, said that the speed with which Whitehall had responded to Covid-19 had been positive and appreciated by the industry, but he said that it had missed an opportunity by pushing VAT back up to 20 per cent and not reforming business rates.

“The government have clearly pulled away from giving support to the sector,” he said. “We were glad of the support at the beginning of this year, but that support dropped away in the second half of the year and we started to stand on our own two feet again.”

He said he understood the economic pressures on the government but said: “The challenges are still very real. Whilst sales have broadly returned to 2019 levels, the underlying challenges of significant cost inflation, labour shortages and regulations will continue to impact the pace of recovery of the sector and we therefore look to the government for support through business rates and alcohol duty reforms.”

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