Taxed Out: Why We’re Speaking Up

They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. So whilst talking about taxes can sometimes feel futile we think it’s time well spent

Last week we shared a short video supporting London on the Inside’s Taxed Out campaign which calls for fairer taxes for hospitality. Instagram only gave us 60 seconds, so we wanted to take a little more time here to explain what we said, and why we said it…

There were two main points:

1. That the recent Employer National Insurance (NI) changes feel unfair to small businesses like ours

2. That ongoing cost increases are pushing passionate founders to breaking point…and that risks the entire independent restaurant scene

The Boring (but Important) Bit: Employer NI

This was a big change back in April and it felt unfair

It’s essentially a tax on businesses for hiring people. It doesn’t come out of your wage as an employee, so unless you’re an employer, you probably haven’t noticed it. But we definitely noticed!

Here’s how it worked before April 2025:

We paid 13.8% Employer NI on employee earnings above £9,100 per year

We got a small business allowance of £5,000 to offset this

Our total Employer NI bill last year was around £18,000

Since April 2025, the rules changed:

The rate went up to 15%…not such a big jump

BUT, the employee earnings threshold dropped from £9,100 to just £5,000 per year, so we’re now paying tax on more of everyone’s salary…a bigger percentage of a much bigger number!

True, the allowance rose to £10,500, but that’s not enough to offset the rise

The outcome, our Employer NI bill this year is projected to be £23,000…an increase of £5,000.

If you saw the financial breakdown we shared earlier this year, you’ll remember that our profit last year was £20,000. Which means this tax change alone wipes out a quarter of our profit. That's not sustainable

Passion Doesn’t Pay the Rent

Most indie restaurants start because someone, or a small group of people, have a huge amount of passion. That passion gets you through the first year or so: planning, opening, hiring, refining, doing what you need to do to survive!

Owners work long hours, fuelled by adrenaline, hope and that store of passion they started with. They probably don’t pay themselves…or if they do, it’s just enough to make ends meet. If things are tight (which they often are), they go without pay entirely, so the staff get theirs…all this is fine, up to a point!

Eventually, if you’re lucky, the restaurant finds its rhythm. You build up your regulars, the team settles into a groove and maybe, you can start paying yourself a proper wage…not a huge amount, but enough to feel that things are sustainable for the long term

Sadly, for many owners, that moment of breathing room keeps getting pushed further and further away

Rising costs — food, energy, staffing, and now more tax — chip away at your margins.

The passion still burns, but it can’t carry the whole load forever, and when it finally runs out, that’s when small businesses close their doors

It’s happening all over the UK. Quietly, and far too often!

We’re not asking for it to be easy. It shouldn’t be. But it shouldn’t be this hard and we’re asking the government to stop making it harder

We’re OK (Really)

Phew…so a bit of positivity to wrap up as we don’t want anyone thinking that we’re about to close the doors or anything!

We’re fine, honestly, we really are…

This is not about us, we’re lucky to have a supportive local community, we’re lucky to have another business in Oscar’s which gives us some financial breathing space which many founders don’t have, and we’re lucky to have each other… an amazing team of incredible people who make doing what we do fun and who bring positivity every day to replenish those reserves of passion which are so important!

We’re speaking out because not every restaurant is as lucky as us…and if we want genuinely independent hospitality to survive and thrive, then something has to change!

That’s what this campaign is about

Thanks for reading…and of course, if you want to help out the most direct way possible…click here to book a table!