“The shape of hospitality has changed.” Award-winning Woking wine bar hits out at rising business rates

An award-winning Woking wine bar has cited increases on national insurance, VAT and business rates as hitting retail and hospitality businesses in the town centre the hardest. 

Woking Borough Council announced at the beginning of October that it was planning to lift its “saturation zone”, first put in place in 2007 prohibiting licenses for new night-time businesses in parts of the town centre. Councillor Anne-Marie Barker said of the decision, “People’s ways of going out have changed.”

Roland, the proprietor of Cellar Magnifique on Church Path, said, “the key challenge in the town centre is it’s a very tough trading environment. We’ve got a lot of empty premises and the saturation zone isn’t the problem or the solution to this.

“National insurance, VAT, cost of hiring, and business rates are not in the power of working with the council. They get the business rates but those are largely set by the central government, VAT, national insurance and hiring is the central government, but it all adds up hugely.”

Hospitality businesses in the town centre have faced challenges this year, with Chertsey Road pub The Junction Tap closing in September 2026, while The London Stone on Chobham Road, formerly Slug & Lettuce, has changed ownership. 

On Barker’s comments, Roland added, “[the saturation zone] was originally brought in at a time when you had a lot more disorderly, but the shape of hospitality has changed. 

“There’s a lot of comments about young people not wanting to go out or socialise, but socialising has become so expensive that perhaps they can’t afford to pay sky high prices, but we can’t lower prices because we’re being taxed to oblivion.”

The council is set to impose a public space protection order (PSPO) on 28 October for three years in an effort to crackdown on anti-social behaviour.

Target publication: Woking News & Mail