The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has hit out at the Treasury’s defence of hugely increased business rates hitting arenas around the UK in 2026, urging them to stop sharing “irrelevant statements” and “get serious about this problem”.
It comes as it was revealed yesterday (Wednesday December 10) that rateable values (RVs) for venues including London’s The O2 and Wembley SSE Arena, Manchester’s Co-op Live and more, would be facing some of the sharpest rises in business rates in the country next year.
Many will be seeing their annual business rate bills rising by more than double. For the Wembley Arena, for example, it is skyrocketing by 300 per cent, and for The O2 the annual bills will be rising by £1.85million.
The sharp increase comes as previous valuations were based on the COVID-19 period, when there was a significant decline in demand for live music, whereas the new figures are based on the operating conditions seen in 2024.
MVT CEO Mark Davyd was quick to hit out at the decision, and highlighted how venues in the UK are already struggling in many cases to make a profit due to rising costs.
He then joined up with LIVE Music, National Arenas Associate, The Concert Promoters Association, Musician’s Union, the FAC, British Association of Concert Halls and more, penning an open letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and warning of the consequences that may arise.
In the letter, which you can read in full here, the organisations hit out at the “disproportionate, inappropriate, and unjustified” rates and said that the move “will undermine many of this Government’s own priorities”.
They also shared that the price hike will likely lead to “hundreds of grassroots music venues will close in the coming years”, ticket prices rising for music fans, “thousands of jobs being lost”, and more.
Proposing changes that could alleviate the burden faced by venues, the letter suggested an “immediate 40 per cent Business Rates Relief for our venues”, similar to film studios which have been granted relief until 2034, and a “fundamental reform of the valuation system”.
A HM Treasury spokesperson has since shared a statement with NME and shared that there is a cap in place to ease the blow faced by arenas, along with other ways that the government are looking to make the changes smoother for venues and artists in the UK.
“With COVID support ending and valuations rising, some music venues may face higher costs – so we have stepped in to cap bills with a £4.3billion support package and by keeping Corporation Tax at 25 per cent – the lowest rate in the G7,” they said.
“For the music sector, we are also relaxing temporary admission rules to cut the cost of bringing in equipment for gigs, providing 40 per cent Orchestra Tax Relief for live concerts, and investing up to £10million to support venues and live music.”
The MVT have, however, blasted this response and told NME that the government needs to stop “flim-flaming the public with irrelevant statements about corporation tax”, and instead “get serious about this problem”.
“The Treasury response to these issues is highly illustrative of the reason the new Rateable Values are such a huge issue,” Davyd began. “Treasury officials are fully aware that the revaluations by the Valuation Office Agency are not some minor error that can be corrected with lower multipliers or transitional relief.”
He went on to explain how while the finer details about “low corporation tax” is probably beneficial for “large corporations making huge profits”, it does not have the same impact on the music industry as “over half of the UK’s grassroots music venues are currently trading at a loss and the rest operate on tiny profit margins.”
“The Government’s injection of £10million a year into music is a welcome initiative called the Music Growth Scheme,” his statement continued. “Obviously it would be possible for the Treasury to tell the Department of Culture Media and Sport to relabel that scheme as the ‘Here’s some money to pay your business rates bill we have accidentally grossly inflated’ but I’m not sure that’s in the spirit of the Creative Industries Sector Plan vision.”
Sharing some startling warnings, Davyd added that “91 grassroots music venues in the UK will close for live music between April 2026 and April 2029 unless Treasury take a different approach”.
“One venue has an over 400 per cent increase in their total liability for premises taxes,” he then highlighted, before saying it was “simply daft to suggest that isn’t an error that needs correcting.”
Concluding, he shared: “We strongly suggest the Treasury get serious about this problem and get involved in sorting it out. We certainly celebrate the existence of Orchestral Tax Relief, but as the Treasury knows GMVs don’t get that relief, so it’s not going to do much for your local grime or rock night.”
The new figures for 2026 come following Wolf Alice‘s Joff Oddie appearing at the House Of Commons in the spring, and sharing insight into the state of UK grassroots music and telling MPs: “I can honestly say, I’m not sure how Wolf Alice would make it work today.”
The changes in business rates also hit after the Labour government announced back in January that they were looking to strengthen the live music sector by enforcing a price cap on how much touts can re-sell tickets for, and looking into controversial ‘dynamic pricing’ practices.
Once Radiohead, Sam Fender, Dua Lipa and more called for them to stay true to their promises to stay true to their word, MPs shared new rules that make it illegal to re-sell tickets for live events above original cost – which will collectively save fans £112million per year. Massive fees from secondary ticket sellers will also be stamped out.
As well as tackling huge re-sale ticket prices, the government have also previously shown backing for the push for arena and stadiums to introduce a £1 ticket levy, which sees £1 from every ticket sold being invested into grassroots spaces.
It was gradually accepted by the government after Coldplay, Enter Shikari, Katy Perry, and Sam Fender all adopted the method in their respective tours, and it was later revealed that 93 per cent of fans were all in favour of the ticket levy.
Since then, artists including Pulp and Mumford & Sons have shown backing for supporting grassroots venues, and together raised over £500,000 for the efforts of LIVE to keep the industry thriving, and The O2 has revealed it will be making a donation to the MVT every time a new artist headlines the arena.
