Business rates spike affects high street

Soaring business rates are hampering progress for high street optical practices as they look to negotiate lower rents.

John Welsby, managing director of Conlons Opticians, explained how the government’s decision to delay its 2015 review of business rates until 2017, together with the prospect of further increases next year, was creating ‘a very bizarre and often complex situation’.

Conlons, which has 18 practices in North West England, Scotland and Wales, was offered one empty property with rates payable in excess of £50,000, while its rental was actually under £10,000 per year with a new five-year lease.

‘As rents have tumbled so should rates, as these have been traditionally based upon the rentable value of a property. This is not now the case,’ Welsby said, adding that business rates were ‘more palatable’ for charity shops cropping up on the high street, as they were entitled to 80 per cent tax relief.