Rachel Reeves has been blamed for pushing restaurants and pubs into ‘survival mode’ as as two venues have shut per day for the first half of 2025.

The number of hospitality sites plunged by 374 to 98,746 sites at the end of June, sparking fresh concerns about the fight for survival faced by many businesses.

The closures signalled ‘the hollowing out of our high streets and communities', warned Kate Nicholls, chair of industry group UKHospitality.

Labour’s tax-raid on employers was blamed for the fall by market research firm NIQ and consultancy AlixPartners, which published the analysis.

It means that the sector is now 14.2 per cent smaller than at the start of Covid in March 2020, with more than 16,000 net closures over the past five years.

Researchers pointed to a cocktail of costs including higher National Insurance contributions for employers, business rates and wages.

Graeme Smith, a senior partner at AlixPartners, said: ‘The effects of a step change in costs and taxation, which landed this April, have made the trading environment more challenging for many hospitality businesses.’

And UKHospitality’s Nicholls said: ‘These latest figures are a devastating blow, showing in the starkest terms the impact of Government-driven cost pressures. Two hospitality venues closing every day is not just a statistic; it represents the hollowing out of our high streets and communities.

‘The result is a sector in survival mode, where investment is at a standstill. Businesses are being forced to focus on just keeping the lights on, and growth is secondary.’

Businesses to shut sites recently include craft beer maker BrewDog and cocktail bar chain Simmons.

The worrying figures come just weeks after TV star and landlord Jeremy Clarkson, told The Mail on Sunday that penalising business rates had left publicans 'like Butch and Sundance at the end of the movie – taking fire from absolutely everywhere'.

An industry forecast in June showed that one pub could close every day this year across Britain. 

It comes after Britain's hospitality industry was hit by a £500 million-a-year rise in business rates in April alongside a barrage of other costs imposed by Labour.

Before the Budget, small businesses had called for a Covid-era discount of 75 per cent on business rates to be extended to give them breathing space. But the Government cut this to a 40 per cent discount, capped at £110,000 per pub.

Labour has promised to reform rates, which are a levy based on the notional rental value of a commercial property. This currently means High Street shops and pubs often pay a premium compared with online giants such as Amazon.

But there have been concerns that Labour's reforms will be too little and too late for many firms.

And there are fears the Government will once more hike taxes on businesses as the government comes under pressure to reduce the country’s huge debt pile.