A quirky Somerset 'cider barn' could be forced to shut down after its business rates bill rose by 500 per cent.
Jason Law has run the Cider Barn since 2012, located off the busy A371 in the small village of Draycott, near Cheddar.
The small business on the edge of the Mendip Hills has been delighting local patrons and holidaymakers for years, serving a wide range of Somerset ciders, local beers, sourdough pizzas and pub classics.
But all of that could soon come to an end after Mr Law's business rates rose from £100 per month to £600 per month following the government's recent revaluation.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday (May 29), Mr Law said the rateable value of his business had risen from £4,500 to £15,000 in the space of a few years, based on calculations by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
He said: "There doesn't seem to be any cap on it at all - it's all a big mystery. You need to be a nuclear physicist to understand it.
"You know what Westminster's like, they're just going to keep loading it up, year after year after year.
"People will only pay so much for a pint, and we're right on the edge of pricing ourselves out - and then people just stop coming."
Business rates are collected by Somerset Council on behalf of the Treasury, with the government deciding on an annual basis how much of the funding can be retained by local authorities to pay for public services, such as fixing potholes or providing social care for vulnerable adults.
Mr Law said "the playing field has completely changed" since the coronavirus pandemic, and much of the relief available to businesses like his has been rapidly phased out.
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He said: "We get people from all over the country coming through here, because we've got Wookey Hole, Cheddar Gorge on our doorstep - and people are pissed off.
"It's like the government don't want these places to exist any more. They don't us to socialise in places like this - you can chat in here, you can't in Wetherspoons, can you?
"They go ahead and cut VAT on top holiday attractions to five per cent - but what about the accommodation where people stay, and the places they eat and drink?
"I rely heavily on regulars here - from Draycott, Cheddar, Wells and Axbridge - and this is pricing them out during the quiet months of the winter.
"We're all council tax payers - this is like a double whammy. The services we're getting are less and less in this community.
"This just takes the shine off the whole thing - it makes you think: 'what's the point?'. We are being used as a cash cow for this bloated government.
"This is make or break time - it's soul-destroying."
For more information about the Cider Barn, visit www.theciderbarn.net.
Mr Law is not the only local business which has seen its annual bills skyrocket following recent decisions by the VOA and the Treasury.
Jules Sayer, owner of the Petruth Paddocks campsite in Cheddar, has seen his business rates bill rise from £107 per month to £2,882 per month (paid over ten months) - a rise of nearly 2,700 per cent.
He said: "You're now getting less and less business rate relief, and the rate is going up - that's the problem.
"Wetherspoons and the other big names have got big corporate divisions, which means they've got funding to manage these kinds of increases - we haven't.
"When you build businesses like ours and the Cider Barn, you care for it and nurture it. Now it feels like someone's attacking us.
"Your motivation goes, the customers notice that and all of a sudden you start losing business."
Mr Sayer was informed in early-2024 that the way his site was being valued was changing, and completed all the necessary paperwork - but was then met by months of silence, creating more uncertainty for his business.
He said: "I was sent a very detailed, campsite-specific form, asking about the number of pitches and our average turner.
"I filled it all out honestly, and heard nothing for ages. I budgeted £10,000 just to be on the safe side - that was ten times what I was paying, and instead it's nearly 30 times what I was paying before."
Mr Sayer said businesses need to be given stability in order to plan for any rate increases - and warned that many other small businesses could have to close if the government does not reconsider.
He said: "On the basis that everything is always going to go up, you need to set an expectation of what will happen over three years, so you can budget as a business.
"No business can cope with the kind of tremendous increases that Jason and I have had. Rather than transitional from the relief we had, they've just taken it away.
"We've got 25 to 30 people working for us, ranging from 14 to 76 - and those jobs are all going to go if this carries on."
For more information about the campsite, visit www.petruthpaddocks.co.uk.
Tessa Munt, the Liberal Democrat MP for Wells and Mendip Hills, raised the Cider Barn's plight in the House of Commons on May 21.
She said: "Jason was rocked by this year’s massive increase in business rates, which have jumped from £100 a month to £600 a month.
"I should not have to explain that that meant a significant rise in his operating costs.
"This kind of shock makes it so hard for micro- and small businesses to survive, let alone to thrive.
"Given how important the Cider Barn is to the local community, what can the minister say - and, importantly, do -to assure small businesses like Jason’s that they will be supported by this government?"
Business secretary Peter Kyle MP - who visited Somerset in early-April to announce additional funding for its new 'gigafactory' - responded: "The fact that the honourable lady’s constituent works in the hospitality sector, and is located in a rural area, means that he requires multiple types of support from this government, which he is getting.
"We have permanently lowered the business rates multiplier for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. That is worth nearly £1bn and benefits over 750,000 businesses.
"I imagine that his business will fall within the definition of a small business. Just this week, we have introduced legislation to tackle late payments for small businesses, which will inject another £11bn into the economy.
"This government are on the side of businesses, whether they are in urban or rural areas and whether they are large or small."
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