Apply for the Pub and Live Music Venue Relief 2026/27

You could qualify for the Pub and Live Music Venue Business Rate Relief for 2026/27

On 27 January 2026, the Government announced that in 2026/27, eligible pubs and live music venues will benefit from a 15% business rates relief on top of the support announced at the Budget 2025.

Their bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further 2 years.

If you are a pub or live music venue that meets one of the below definitions, you may benefit from a 15% business rates relief in 2026/27. This relief will apply on top of any Transitional Relief or Supporting Small Business Relief you are eligible for.

Further details can be found on the GOV.UK website.

Eligibility

Pubs

Relief should only be awarded to pubs which meet all of the following characteristics:

• is open to the general public
• allows free entry other than when occasional entertainment is provided
• allows drinking without requiring food to be consumed
• permit drinks to be purchased at a bar

For these purposes, the meaning of pub does not include:

• restaurants, cafes, nightclubs, and snack bars
• hotels, guesthouses, and boarding houses
• sporting venues
• festival sites, theatres, and cinemas
• museums and exhibition halls
• casinos

Live music venues

Live music venues are properties that are:

• wholly or mainly used for the performance of live music for the purpose of entertaining an audience

They can also be used for other activities, but only if those other activities are:

• supporting the performance of live music but is not the primary focus, for example, the sale of food or drink to audience members
• do not affect the primary use of the premises for the performance of live music. For example, the activities are infrequent, such as use of the venue as a polling station or fortnightly community event.

Properties are not a live music venue for the purpose of this relief if the property 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).

These lists are not exhaustive and it will be for the Local Authorities to determine those cases where eligibility is unclear.

How to apply

If your new 2026/27 bill does not include this, but you believe that, based on the above criteria, you should be entitled, please complete the application form below, and it will be assessed by one of our Revenues Officers.

Apply for the relief

When completing your application, please make sure to upload all the requested documentation. Applications received without the required evidence or accounts will not be assessed and will be rejected.

The Government and North Norfolk District Council will not tolerate any business falsifying their records or providing false evidence to gain this relief. A ratepayer who falsely applies for any relief or provides false information or makes a false representation to gain relief may be guilty of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006.

North Norfolk District Council reserves the right to remove this relief if it finds that incorrect details have been provided or if the relief has been granted incorrectly through Council error.