£10m hospitality grant opens to applications at end of September
The government has put £10m behind new pubs, cafes and restaurants, with £3m ring-fenced for a rural pubs charity. Grant sizes have not been published.
Applications for the government's £10 million Hospitality Grant Scheme open at the end of September. Guidance is already live on GOV.UK.
The money is aimed mainly at people starting new hospitality ventures and at projects bringing vacant premises back into use.
That is a narrower target than the sector might have hoped. Existing pubs and restaurants looking for working capital are not the primary audience.
Of the £10 million, £3 million has been ring-fenced for Pub is The Hub, a non-profit that has spent 25 years helping pubs in rural and deprived areas diversify. The government's press release says that can cover village stores, community cafes and play areas attached to pubs.
The scheme also funds training programmes rather than only bricks and mortar. Money from its pilot went to the non-profit Right Course, which converts prison kitchens and restaurants into hospitality training facilities.
The pilot has delivered more than 70 rural pub projects.
Applying is a three-step process. Check the guidance on GOV.UK to confirm the project fits the scheme's aims, register or log in on the Department for Business and Trade's grants portal, then submit once the window opens at the end of September.
The portal will not accept applications before then. Having business and trading details ready is the difference between applying on day one and applying in October.
No individual grant sizes have been published, and no closing date for applications has been announced.
The backdrop is not cheerful. Hospitality is the second worst-performing sector for insolvencies after construction, accounting for 15% of all business failures in England and Wales, and research cited by Startups.co.uk found 23% of pubs and restaurants operating at a loss. Almost two pubs a day closed in 2026.
Separately, pubs, clubs and live music venues are set to receive a 20% cut to their business rates bills from April. The typical pub is expected to save £1,000 a year.
Three other schemes are open now. The Hospitality Support Fund takes applications for "delivery-ready" projects with a minimum value of £100,000; the Zero Carbon Hospitality initiative, run by Zero Carbon Services, provides an energy-saving plan and digital tools; and the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant is aimed at businesses hiring young people.
For a founder with a lease on an empty unit, the practical move is to read the guidance and open a portal account this month. A £10 million pot spread across a national sector will not last long once the window opens, and £3 million of it is already spoken for.