Don't cry to mother if rates freebie comes back to bite
Pets at Home joins supermarkets and B&M in opting not to repay rates relief despite staying open during Covid crisis
Here’s another name to add to the list of retailers who will keep their relief on business rates – thanks very much, dear chancellor – even though their stores were open during lockdown.
It’s Pets at Home, which joins all the big supermarket chains and discount merchant B&M in the brazen bracket. There were mitigating factors in Pets at Home’s case – for example, it stopped the sale of pets for a while to discourage outings to its “free zoos” – but a 5% rise in half-year revenues says help from the public purse wasn’t necessary.