Fitzrovia BIDs chief asks chancellor Rachel Reeves to drop rates hike for biggest businesses

The chief executive of the Fitzrovia Partnership business improvement districts has written to chancellor Rachel Reeves asking her not to go ahead with a planned hike in business rates for the largest commercial premises occupiers.

In a letter sent earlier this month, Andrew Munk says that the planned change to the business rate multiplier would unfairly impact businesses in Fitzrovia and their contribution to the London economy.

Writing on behalf of nearly 400 member businesses, Munk says “we ask that no high value multiplier is applied in April 2026 to districts such as Fitzrovia”.

The government plans to raise rates on businesses that occupy premises with a rateable value (RV) of more than £500,000 — and make permanent the current temporary lower rates on smaller retail and hospitality occupiers, which make up the majority of businesses in high streets and districts like Fitzrovia.

Most businesses in Fitzrovia with an RV of less than £160,000 are not members of the Fitzrovia Partnership.

Twenty-two per cent of commercial occupiers who are members of the Fitzrovia Partnership will fall into this higher rating category, writes Munk.

These larger businesses “drive weekday spend and support thousands of jobs across hospitality and smaller firms” in Fitzrovia, he says.

In the letter, Munk claims that commercial activity within the two business improvement districts in Fitzrovia generated £13.2bn gross value added (GVA) in 2023 and employs more than 190,000 people — figures which The Fitzrovia News regard as highly inflated.

The Fitzrovia Partnership claims that by 2030 over 13,000 new jobs will be created in its business improvement districts. Hospitality, retail and leisure are projected to add 4,266 jobs; professional, scientific and technical, 3,225; information and communication, 2,940; creative and media, 1,502; and construction and real estate adding an extra 1,188 jobs.

In the letter to Reeves, Munk says that the government’s planned rates rise will stunt that growth.

According to analysis done by the Fitzrovia Partnership, the business districts would reach about £14.9bn GVA by 2030.

“This strength is built on a finely balanced ecosystem of sectors that benefit from agglomeration, and a further rise in fixed costs, taken together with changes to employment rights and NICs, risks disturbing that balance and discouraging business growth and investment in the area,” says Munk.

Chancellor Reeves is expected to announce full details of the changes to business rates in the autumn budget on 26 November.

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