"Out-of-touch": 6 business owners share their views on Govt plans to revamp high streets with cafes and bars

BUSINESS owners are divided on plans to introduce a wave of new cafes, bars, music venues and outdoor dining options into the UK's towns and communities, as the Government slashes red tape to breathe new life into the high street.

While one welcomed the move as “the most economically literate decision Labour has made in years”, other business owners were more sceptical, saying the government is completely out-of-touch given that few can afford to go out given its policies and that currently empty shops will be replaced by empty cafes in 18 months' time. Another worried it risks making our pavements and town centres even more inaccessible for disabled people.

The government, it announced overnight, will introduce a new National Licensing Policy Framework, which will modernise outdated planning and licensing rules — cutting the cost, complexity and time it takes to open and operate hospitality venues, and helping small businesses grow and communities reconnect.

The reforms, the Government claims, will make it easier to convert disused shops into hospitality venues, and protect long-standing pubs, clubs, and music venues from noise complaints by new developments – ensuring the buzz of the high street can thrive without being silenced.

Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, said: “This Government has a plan to replace shuttered up shops with vibrant places to socialise turning them into thriving cafés or busy bars, which supports local jobs and gives people a place to get together and catch up over a beer or a coffee.

“Red tape has stood in the way of people’s business ideas for too long. Today we’re slashing those barriers to giving small business owners the freedom to flourish.

“From faster café openings to easier alfresco dining, our Plan for Change will put the buzz back into our town centres and money back into the pockets of local entrepreneurs, because when small businesses thrive, communities come alive.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, added: “Whether it’s cheering on the Lionesses or catching up with friends, our pubs and bars are at the heart of British life. For too long, they’ve been stifled by clunky, outdated rules.

"We’re binning them – to protect pavement pints, al fresco dining and street parties – not just for the summer, but all year round. Through our Plan for Change, we’re backing small businesses and bringing good times back to the high street.”

Paul Sullivan, Chief GTM Officer at AriseGTM, was withering and said the plans are a surface level answer to a deep-rooted problem: “The high street has been dying as successive governments have allowed local councils to outprice local businesses or pass parking restrictions that kill them off. With an economy in tatters, who exactly has the money to go and visit these establishments? I own my own business and I've taken to not buying coffee anymore as a coffee and pastry is the better part of £10. It's a rubbish idea, a decade too late and indicative of a government that doesn't know how to grow an economy. Completely out-of-touch.”

Jenny Blyth, owner at Storm in a Teacup Gifts, said this is the polar opposite of what the dying high street needs: "Has Rachel Reeves forgotten the purpose of the high street altogether? Renovating disused shops into more cafes? What is she thinking? It isn’t the hospitality industry that needs to be welcomed back to the high street, it's the thousands of small businesses who have been forced to shut because of extortionate prices and ridiculous red tape.

"Our high street is packed full of cafes but can I buy a gift for a loved one or visit a butcher? No, of course not. This is just another sign that the current government is blinded to what we need and is instead trying to distract us with something shiny. They are lost, and this isn’t what our dying high street needs."

Carol Vickers, Owner at Created by Carol, was concerned about the impact on disabled people: “This sounds like a quick way to inject some life into our struggling high streets, but at what cost? Consumers have finite resources, so a high street cannot survive on hospitality alone. However, my main concern is that this will have a similar impact to the outside seating implemented during the pandemic: making our pavements and town centres even more inaccessible for disabled people.

"Outside seating creates barriers for wheelchair users and people reliant on mobility scooters. It can also be terribly dangerous for people with limited vision. I'd like to know whether the Government considered accessibility when making this decision? Given their determination to slash disability support to date, I somehow doubt it.”

Keith Budden, Managing Director at Ensurety, said: "It's a fact of life that the High Street is changing. Where once there was a wide range of individual stores, the proverbial butcher, baker and candlestick maker, for many the High Street is now cafe, barber, cafe, barber, charity shop, estate agent, hairdresser, cafe, nail bar, cafe. The days of the High Street butcher are gone, save for the occasional artisan provider. The way people shop has changed.

“With all this in mind, anything that reduces red tape is welcome but I do worry that there is a limited supply of labour willing to work in cafes and bars and, perhaps more importantly, a limited number of punters given the pressure people's finances are under. In effect, we may be removing empty shops now only to have empty cafes in 18 months' time.”

But some welcomed the plans. Kundan Bhaduri, Entrepreneur at The Kushman Group, enthused: “The Government’s reform of licensing and planning laws could be the most economically literate decision Labour has made in years. For too long, high streets have sat hollow while small business owners were asked to navigate contradictory rules, snail-paced approvals and fees designed more to deter than enable investment.

"Planning officers treated a pavement table like a threat to national security. Protecting pubs and venues from after-the-fact noise complaints is not just policy, it should be cultural preservation. If you move next to a pub and then complain about noise, you are not a victim—you are the problem. If this new framework delivers what it promises, we may see capital return to the high street.”

Also upbeat was Harry Goodliffe, Director at HTG Mortgages, who said: “Anything that breathes life back into our high streets gets a thumbs up from me. For too long, tired licensing rules have put the brakes on good ideas and vibrant spaces. Stripping back red tape means landlords and small operators can finally rethink empty shops as buzzing cafés, bars or venues, not just dead weight on a balance sheet.

"It’s a big win for community, culture and commercial opportunity. Fingers crossed the Government sees it through.”