Back bookshops in bid to rebuild high streets, Burnham urged

Leading authors have called on Andy Burnham to roll out emergency support to the UK’s small bookshops as part of his pledge to save Britain’s high streets. 

The bestselling writers, along with 200 booksellers, have written to the Prime Minister, urging him to set out a business rates relief package for bookshops as they contend with crippling tax bills.

The authors, which include Maggie O’Farrell and Phillip Pullman, have told Burnham that he should treat bookshops with the same urgency as pubs and music venues, whose business rates bills he vowed to slash just days after entering Downing Street. 

“Following the announcement of new relief for pubs, clubs and live music venues, we were deeply disappointed to learn that bookshops would not be included,” they wrote.

“The government has accepted that businesses which deliver significant community benefit deserve targeted support. Bookshops clearly meet that test.”

Business rates bills on the rise

The booksellers and writers claim the Treasury has conceded that bookshops deserve targeted support as part of the government’s commitment to support businesses that bring “social benefits to our communities”.

Government officials acknowledged “the important role that bookshops play in communities across the country and the contribution they make to local high streets” when asked why bookshops were excluded from Burnham’s business rates package.

The Treasury says bookshops already benefit from lower business rates multipliers and temporary caps on how much these taxes can rise.

But the authors have told Burnham they are becoming “increasingly frustrated” by Labour’s claims that it is supporting the retail sector through its changes to business rates.

“That is not the reality facing independent bookshops,” they said, noting that many of these businesses are not eligible for the full business rates relief offered to small businesses. They added that temporary reliefs on the tax are due to expire later this decade.

These independent bookshops will face annual tax hikes of £4,563 by 2029/30, meaning they would need to sell 1,141 extra books to cover the cost, the writers and booksellers claim.

The total business rates receipts paid by independent booksellers are projected to rise by 35 per cent to £5.65m by the end of the decade, according to the Booksellers Association, which has organised the campaign.

Bookshops ‘deserve same support as pubs’

In recent weeks, Andy Burnham has unveiled plans to crack down on vape shops, gambling centres and other “rogue operators” on British high streets. 

But the Booksellers Association told the Prime Minister he needs to urgently set out how he will “address the other half of the equation” by backing the businesses which offer value to the high street.

The trade body claims that bookshops deserve support as part of Burnham’s high street overall because they host community events and boost literacy across the country.

Adam Kay, the former doctor and author of bestselling memoir This Is Going to Hurt, said it was “really welcome news that the government will be supporting pubs and live music venues – all hugely important parts of our communities.

“But bookshops are too, and right now they need the same helping hand.”

The letter to Burnham was also backed by Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell and His Dark Materials writer Philip Pullman.