Cafe owners in England have criticised Andy Burnham’s planned business rates relief for excluding cafes and restaurants while supporting pubs, social clubs and live music venues. They argue that cafes face similar pressures from energy costs, inflation and weaker consumer spending, and play an important role as local workplaces and community spaces.

The package, worth about £100m a year and due to begin next April, is expected to save a typical pub around £1,100 in the following year. Sheba Coffee says the exclusion limits its ability to expand, while Dialogue Cafe, a deaf-run social enterprise in east London, fears subsidised competitors could draw customers away and undermine its work employing deaf and hard-of-hearing baristas.