The Government has backed British pubs with a major package of support on business rates and licensing reform, recognising the ‘challenges they face and important role they play in local communities'.

Pubs will get a 15% cut to new business rates bills from April followed by a two-year real-terms freeze, as well as a review into the method used to value them for business rates. This is on top of support announced at Budget.

The Government also announced a new High Street Strategy to help ensure retail, leisure and hospitality businesses can thrive, as the bedrock of strong communities.

In response, Henry Gregg, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said: ‘It's an insult to hard-pressed pharmacists who are still struggling under the effects of historic NHS underfunding that simply isn't sufficient to pay inflated business rates, medicine prices and their other bills.

‘Pharmacies are not like pubs, cafes or restaurants. They receive 90% of their funding from the NHS and cannot simply increase their prices for the nations prescriptions to absorb this eye-watering increase.

‘Denying pharmacies the business rate support that is available to GPs and other parts of the NHS is yet another example of them being treated as second-class citizens in our health service. We should treat dedicated servants of our NHS better.'