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5,500 small firms urge Reeves to halt ‘apocalyptic’ business rates shock

January 8, 2026

A growing number of London’s entrepreneurs and micro-businesses are swapping traditional offices for coffee shops and cafes, with new research revealing that these venues are playing an increasingly vital role in the capital’s business ecosystem.

More than 5,500 small business owners from across the UK have written to the chancellor demanding an urgent review of the forthcoming business rates revaluation, warning that it risks forcing thousands of viable firms to close permanently.

The open letter, coordinated by MP Rupert Lowe, has been signed by pub landlords, café owners, shopkeepers and local employers who say they are already operating at breaking point after a decade of relentless cost pressures.

Addressed directly to Rachel Reeves, the letter calls on the Treasury to urgently reassess the impact of the revaluation on small businesses and introduce meaningful mitigation measures to prevent widespread closures on high streets and in town centres.

Business owners describe having endured years of rising rents, soaring energy bills, higher insurance premiums, inflation, staffing pressures, Covid-era debt and successive tax increases. Many say they have adapted where possible, borrowed to stay afloat, cut their own wages and worked longer hours simply to survive.

They now warn that the upcoming revaluation could be “the final straw”.

Unlike online competitors, signatories argue, bricks-and-mortar businesses cannot avoid business rates or relocate to cheaper premises. They trade from physical locations, serve local communities and employ local people — yet feel they are being penalised for doing so.

In the letter, owners warn that even modest increases in rates could trigger job losses, reduced opening hours, higher prices for customers or outright closure. Many stress that once lost, these businesses will not return.

Commenting on the scale of the response, Lowe said the number of signatories continues to grow and reflects deep-rooted fear across the small business community.

“The scale of the response speaks for itself,” he said. “These are viable, hard-working firms that have been ground down year after year and are now being pushed too far. Business rates punish physical presence. They punish community businesses.

“Unless the chancellor acts quickly, we will see permanent closures on high streets across the country. It will be apocalyptic.”

The intervention adds to mounting pressure on the government over business rates reform, particularly from hospitality and retail sectors already warning that rising fixed costs are undermining investment, employment and local economic resilience.