'Budget may be breaking point for London business'

Ros Morgan represents West End businesses

Businesses across London have been reacting to the measures announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in Wednesday's Budget.

One of the biggest talking points is that the lowest-paid workers will get higher wages from April. Those aged 18-20 will see the minimum wage rise 85p to £10.85 and over-21s will be paid £12.71, up 50p.

Businesses operating in properties valued above £500,000 will pay higher business rates, which is one of the concerns raised by companies operating in the West End.

Ros Morgan, Heart of London Business Alliance's chief executive, said: "The reality is businesses have been hit really hard so with the wages increase, the National Insurance (NI) increase and now the business rates increase, it's a triple whammy."

'Very frustrated'

She added: "There has to be a breaking point and this might be it. That's not to say that businesses don't want to pay the proper wages.

"My experience with every business I speak to, all the members that I represent, is they all want good people and they're willing to pay good money for that but if they also have to pay these higher business rates, which are... astronomical you could say, then something has to give.

"My concern is that they will pause recruitment even further than what they have whenever the National Insurance hike was introduced."

Mouna Elkekhia serves Syrian street food at Arnabeet

Mouna Elkekhia, who runs Mouna's Kitchen offering Middle Eastern street food, said the Budget had left her "feeling extremely disappointed" and "very frustrated".

She said: "We took part in a campaign where we made it very clear what, as a sector, we needed to be able to survive and I just feel like the government heard us and ignored us again.

"There are key things that they could do to help us reduce our costs and they've chosen to ignore all of those and have just put in place kind of piecemeal things that really won't make a difference to us."

Alice Di Chiara has a food stall in the West End

Alice Di Chiara, the owner of Mezzo in Seven Dials, said support for small businesses was lacking from this government.

"Obviously, the biggest disappointment is the missing opportunity in lowering the VAT rates for hospitality, which is I think what everybody was kind of hoping for," she told the BBC.

"Raising the NI was really impactful for us because we had to add that into the costs for all our staff, even the ones that work like less hours, and same for the minimum wage last year."

The Night Time Industries Association branded the Budget a "hammer-blow to the already fragile night-time economy" and said the minimum wage increase "presents a serious challenge for a sector that employs a large proportion of young people".

Chief executive Michael Kill said: "Many venues are already operating on the edge, and we will inevitably see businesses handing back their keys by January, when VAT, quarterly rent payments and other financial obligations collide.

"The pressure on both operators and consumers is now completely unsustainable."

Tourist tax

As well as praising the minimum wage rise, the mayor of London welcomed the ability to raise up to £250m a year by charging visitors staying in London overnight.

Sir Sadiq Khan told BBC London: "I'm going to work really closely with those in hospitality, those in tourism, those in the business community and with our councils to get the best possible scheme in terms of a tourism levy."

However, Antonia Jennings, chief executive of the independent think tank Centre for London, had a word of caution about the new powers.

She said: "Invariably, those central London boroughs are going to raise the vast majority of it, so how is that going to be fairly distributed across the city?"