Independent bookshops across Britain provide far more than just books to their communities – yet they find themselves undervalued and facing unsustainable financial pressures. As the nation marks the National Year of Reading, these vital cultural hubs are grappling with soaring costs from what many describe as a still-broken business rates system. Nic Bottomley, owner of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, argues that recent reforms have fallen dangerously short, threatening the very establishments that make literacy campaigns possible.
A Twentieth Anniversary Overshadowed by Financial Strain
This summer, Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights celebrates twenty years of operation in the heart of Bath. Two decades of joyful engagement with customers about literature coincides perfectly with the National Year of Reading – a timely initiative encouraging people to weave reading into their daily lives. Everything at Mr B's revolves around personal book recommendations, from constant shop-floor conversations that create a playful atmosphere to tailored reading subscriptions and Reading Spa gifts.
Much of this recommendation work targets customers who already read extensively. However, the real excitement emerges when someone requests "the book that will get me back into reading" or when staff share their passionate enthusiasm about stories with young people not yet fully committed to reading. This represents what excellent bookshops contribute to their high streets every single day. They stand alongside educators and librarians, placing precisely the right book into a reader's hands – offering escapism, knowledge, excitement, fear or laughter exactly when needed.
More Than Retail Spaces: Community Hubs Under Pressure
Bookshops transcend their function as mere retail outlets. They serve as spaces for community building, human connection and quiet solace. They regularly host author events and book clubs, and consistently rank among any high street's most active and creative collaborators with charities, cultural organisations, schools and other institutions.
Creating and sustaining these valuable spaces requires substantial effort. During peak periods, owners like Bottomley need to focus on customer interactions, stock ordering and countless essential tasks that navigate months accounting for over a quarter of annual footfall and turnover. The last thing they want during late November's crucial trading period is live-streaming the Budget announcement.
The Broken Promise of Business Rates Reform
Despite being beloved and supported by communities – with many bookshops selling as many or more books than ever – the greatest threat to their long-term sustainability comes from uncontrollable operational costs. This explains why, on 26 November 2025, Bottomley found himself watching Chancellor Rachel Reeves deliver long-overdue proposals to reform the widely criticised business rates system.
Initially, the announcement showed promise. A £5 million investment in school libraries aligned perfectly with the National Year of Reading initiative. Then came business rates reform, featuring talk of "permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties – the lowest rates since 1991". This sounded encouraging.
However, as details emerged and calculations were made, optimism quickly faded. The term "rates" referred specifically to the "multiplier" used to calculate final bills. While this figure had indeed decreased in most cases, two other critical elements remained problematic.
The Mathematics Behind the Mismatch
First, the rateable value being multiplied – which, for many bookshops including Mr B's, had skyrocketed far beyond realistic market valuations. Second, the disappearance of discounts designed to compensate for a system everyone acknowledges as fundamentally flawed. During the pandemic, discounts reached 100 percent to sustain empty high streets. This support gradually reduced to 40 percent before vanishing completely.
The result? These supposedly "lowest rates" translated into a staggering 70 percent increase in operational costs for Mr B's. Other booksellers reported even steeper rises, while pub landlords nationwide found themselves in similar predicaments. Transitional relief will temporarily soften the impact for a couple of years, but this measure remains insufficient and represents an implicit admission that the new system proves no more realistic than its predecessor.
Calls for Equal Treatment with Pubs
Meryl Halls, managing director of the Booksellers Association, rightly argued this week that any policy U-turn on business rates for pubs must extend to bookshops. During the National Year of Reading, bookshops will once again dedicate themselves to championing reading for pleasure – in their shops, in schools and across their communities, during opening hours and long after closing time.
As Halls articulated, bookshops "cannot continue to withstand an ever-growing imbalance in which they are consistently required to step up while government policy fails to step up for them. Pubs are protected because of the value they bring to their communities; bookshops deserve their place alongside them in a fair and equal business rates system".
As Mr B's enters its twentieth anniversary year under the banner of the National Year of Reading, the request remains straightforward: a fair tax system that recognises high street economic realities and acknowledges the vital role bookshops play in strengthening community bonds and promoting literacy nationwide.
