RATES REVAL - THIS WILL NOT STAND AND WE WILL NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER

26 January 2026

Over recent days many of you will have seen your draft rateable values and felt a mixture of shock, anger and disbelief. You are not alone.

Let us be absolutely clear: this revaluation, as it currently stands, is unacceptable.

At a time when hospitality businesses are battling unprecedented cost pressures, the idea that our sector can absorb significant increases in rates liabilities is utterly detached from reality.

For so many businesses, this is beyond “inconvenience”. It is a critical existential threat.

The updated valuations and current rating model in Northern Ireland do not reflect real trading conditions on the ground, real margins, or the fragility of a sector that has done everything asked of it over the past five years.

The proposed increases will cost livelihoods, jobs, family businesses and tear the heart out of communities across Northern Ireland.

Hospitality Ulster members will not accept this.

We are already engaging at the highest levels of Government, demonstrating that for many businesses this revaluation will be fatal, highlighting the absence of meaningful transitional relief, and shining light on the broader failure to recognise the unique position hospitality occupies in our economy and communities.

However, this fight will not be won behind closed doors alone.

This needs:

• A united industry voice
• Businesses willing to speak out, challenge and appeal
• A clear message to government that we refuse to accept a system that prices us out of existence

We will explore every possible avenue — political, legal and practical — to challenge this outcome.

We will continue to press relentlessly for fairness, for reform, and for recognition that hospitality is not a cash cow to be milked, but a cornerstone of employment and local life.

Doing nothing is not an option. Accepting this is not an option. For us; nothing is off the table to secure changes to the revaluations.

Our industry has shown resilience, creativity and grit time and again. Now we must show resolve.

Since the draft NAVs were released on Thursday we have mobilised our resources, placing numerous business owners across multiple media channels, enlisting our political supporters to raise urgent questions in the Assembly and give party backing to our call for fair rates for hospitality.

We are holding an emergency board meeting on Wednesday to agree a campaign of actions and will update our members on our plan of action.

This will not stand. And we will not take no for an answer.