The Malthouse

03/06/2026

Day 123 ……. Decision Day!!

We are deeply saddened to announce the closure of The Malthouse.

Like many independent pubs and hospitality businesses, the ongoing rise in Government costs, Utilities, Suppliers, Licenses, and operating expenses has placed enormous pressure on us, making it impossible for us to continue to operate sustainably.

Running an independent business, in today’s current climate, has been somewhat of a little challenge, but we’re proud of our efforts and would like to sincerely thank every person who has supported us.
Each Customer, Friend, Staff member, Musician, Biker, Supplier, those who attended our events, those who became The Malthouse Darts team, those who became The Malthouse Family, everyone who enjoyed our food, popped in for a drink, brought family and friends, recommended us to others - thank you for all your support over the last couple of years. We couldn’t have done this without each and every one of you.
We are incredibly grateful to those of you who walked through our doors, who chose to celebrate your Birthdays here, say farewell to your loved ones here, to hold your business meetings here, meet up with Family & Friends, filling our Pub and Garden with chit chat and laughter and continuing to support us.

Your loyalty means so much to us and the love, laughter and many, many, marvellous Malthouse memories made with so many of you, will remain in our hearts 💝

Running the Malthouse has been a huge part of our lives and this decision has not been made lightly.
The impact of such a decision is absolutely awful - this morning my team have woken up without their jobs, our suppliers have one Customer less, people who come in for a safe place to chat, our musicians who have to find another gig ….. the ripple effect!!

Thank you to everyone who stood by us throughout the journey and who chose to support your local 💕

Those of you who have bookings with us, we will be in touch over the next couple of days.

Mandy & Steve

01/06/2026

😒

01/06/2026

🍺 SPOT THE ODD ONE OUT 🍺
(Hint: it’s the one killing its own pubs)

🇫🇷 France — Hospitality VAT 10%
🇪🇸 Spain — Hospitality VAT 10%
🇮🇹 Italy — Hospitality VAT 10%
🇩🇪 Germany — Hospitality VAT 7%
🇧🇪 Belgium — Hospitality VAT 12%
🇮🇪 Ireland — Hospitality VAT 9%

🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Hospitality VAT 20%

Same industry.
Same food.
Same drink.
Same jobs.

But one country decided pubs were a luxury - not a cultural asset!

Then we act surprised when:
🍺 Pint prices rise
🍽️ Eating out costs more
🏚️ Pubs shut
✈️ It’s cheaper to enjoy life abroad

It’s not the pub being greedy. It’s yet more tax!

You can’t squeeze pubs dry…then act surprised when they close!

Share if you think UK pubs deserve fairer VAT - not a punishment rate!

01/06/2026

No Bike Night this evening here at The Malthouse - Glorious wet weather expected …… great for farming, not so great for Bike Rides 🌧️ 🏍️

31/05/2026

31/05/2026

It’s Roast Dinner Day 🥘

We will be serving our super roasts from 12pm till 3pm, then switching to the bar menu. 🐓 🐖 🐄 🥜

30/05/2026

A morning of very hard working Bumble and Honey Bees 🐝

29/05/2026

This!!

‘Lower your prices’…

Go to spoons.

Pricing is very topical at the moment, it’s no secret eating out is expensive, and paying £6-7 for a pint of beer is f*cking ridiculous

BUT

There’s a reason for it.

Small businesses are usually ran by a small team and led by someone passionate who cares about their business.

For me, putting prices up makes me feel sick, I always do it way later than I should, and financially that’s stupid. But I want to offer value, and I base things on what I think are reasonable AND the current market (and try and keep on the lower side of it)

I eat out a lot, I know we aren’t ‘expensive’ compared to a lot of places.

You can eat much cheaper than at mine, you can also eat for much more. Chances are, the cheaper places use lower quality food, perhaps buy in more than they make, have lower outgoings, or they’re bigger brands that can afford it. If you eat somewhere more expensive, chances are that you’ll get better food (not always), or they have higher overheads, more staff, more expensive ingredients etc

There’s usually a reason.

But on top of buying food, renting a building and paying people to work there, here’s some important things to remember

Commercial energy (elec and gas) is WAYYYY higher than what you pay residentially, and I don’t just mean the total (thousands) I mean the day rate and the usage rates.

We have to add 20% on to our prices for VAT, you pay it, we pass it to HMRC, but from your side it looks like the menu price is our price. It’s not. It’s our price plus 20% tax just for cooking food. And unfortunately we can’t offset this because food items are 0% vat rated when we buy them…. And 20% rated when we sell them. Crazy.

Staff are expensive, but fair enough, they do a job, they have their own bills etc. Thats fine. But as well as them paying their own tax and NI, we also get the luxury of being billed by HMRC to pay it as well. So by giving people jobs, that we pay for, the government charges us extra… oh, and when they/you want holiday, we still pay you, when you’re sick, we still pay you (%), but we don’t get any support from anywhere, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Business rates. Not sure what they’re even for if I’m honest, because we also have to pay a BID levy, waste collection, licensing fees etc

Insurance for the building, insurance for the business. Again, thousands.

Card fees. So even when you pay the £9 for dessert and we take off the VAT, staff costs, food costs, every other cost, we get charged for taking the payment too, oh and then the bank charges to accept the money as well…

If we’re lucky enough to make a profit, there’s then company tax (which just went up)

And then, after all that, if I want to actually take any payment from my business, I then pay tax again personally.

Oh, and when the fridge/dishwasher/oven breaks, that’s that illusive ‘profit’ gone. So no pay this month.

That’s running a hospitality business, it’s risky, it’s hard, it’s not as lucrative as some people think.

Why do we do it then? I don’t f*cking know.

Guess we love food, get satisfaction from making people happy through our creations, and we’d rather work 100hours for ourselves than 40 for someone else 🤷‍♂️

29/05/2026

🤬 NICE PUB TAX?! 🤬

You actually couldn't make this up!

Just when you think the absolute clowns running the country have run out of ways to squeeze the hospitality industry dry, they invent a new one…🤡

Today’s massive headline: HMRC has issued new guidance to tax assessors for a brand new "Nice Pub Tax."

🤯 I am not joking!

🤯 That is literally what it is!

The geniuses at the Valuation Office Agency have been told that if your pub is actually nice - if you have a scenic view, a river frontage, a well-kept beer garden, a decent play area for the kids, or God forbid, you’ve put a bit of money into maintaining a historic "character property" - you’re getting slapped with even higher business rates!!! 🌄🦆🛝🏖️

Just think about the staggering “logic” of this for a second!

👉 As a publican, you work 90-hour weeks.

👉 You bleed yourself dry investing every spare penny into making your venue an attractive, welcoming place for the community.

👉 You fix the roof, you landscape the garden, you offer a premium menu so people actually want to eat your food.

And what is your reward from Rachel Reeves and her clipboard-wielding tax inspectors? 🧐

"Ooh, that’s a lovely beer garden you’ve got there, mate. Shame if someone were to absolutely tax the living daylights out of it."

🚨 They are literally penalizing success and taxing pride. 🚨

If you run a rundown, miserable concrete box with zero competition and a sticky carpet, congratulations - you’re fine. 👌

But if you try to give your customers something beautiful, you get a massive tax hike hidden under the guise of "modern revaluations" looking ahead to 2029. 📈🤬

We already lost the 40% retail and hospitality relief in April, my rates have already doubled, and now they’re actively hunting down destination country inns and gastropubs for more, because they have "too much appeal”!

What the actual f**k?!? 🤯

❌ It’s completely broken. They want us to survive on fresh air and good vibes, while they price the traditional British pub right out of existence.

🚨 THIS GOVERNMENT HAS LOST THE FU***NG PLOT!

🚨 RACHEL REEVES HAS OFFICIALLY DECLARED WAR ON HOSPITALITY!

I’m off to pour a pint and stare blankly at my beer garden before the council charges me a premium just for looking at the f**king bushes!

Tell me your thoughts below. Are you a publican facing a massive hike? Or a punter sick of watching your favourite local being bled dry? 👇

WE. NEED. TO. FIGHT. THIS. NOW!