Business rates and independent shops, what's the problem? Mystery photos.

I work in a busy independent and mostly secondhand bookshop that is also a publisher and printer of Thanet local history books.

People often ask me what I think of business rates, it's a bit complicated but here we go.

The business rateable value is what you would expect the rent to be, the valuation is set by the inland revenue, and based on the existing rents of shops nearby. The size and frontage is taken into account.

Business rates are collected by the district council, the money is sent to central government and then shared out among the councils.

Rateable values assume the tenant is responsible for maintaining and insuring the building, back in the day when retail was fairly strong and the interest rate fairly high landlords aimed to get about 10% of the value of the building in rent. Now the proportion would be much lower. This is also complicated because there is a fair amount of shop property let fairly short term with the landlord maintaining the building.

link to check rateable values 

If your rateable value is under 15,000 you qualify for full business rates relief, i.e. you don't pay any rates provided it's your only business property. With shops in Ramsgate that is pretty much all apart from the very large ones.

The largest expense by far is wages, 1 worker doing a 40 hour week on minimum wage is about £17,000 so it costs about £20,000 per year with the other expenses of employing someone. so if you had 3 workers on minimum wage and a rent of £10,000 per year that would be £70,000 per year add on heat light phone and insurance and you are going to have to find nearly £2,000 per week just to open the doors.

Work wise here at Michael's Bookshop I have been changing the shop fittings in the craft section, so I can move the architecture into it next to the building and constructions section and expand the art section.

link to the photos of the books we put out today

next the mystery photos

Q1 Where in Thanet and where was it taken from

 Q2 Major Thanet event, what's going on?

 Q3 Where in Thanet? and What architectural feature give you a date between 1896 and 1929

 Q4 where in Thanet?

Q5 where in Thanet?

yesterday's answers

WW1 cavalry parade outside Lewis & Weeks, jewellers  1 Queen Street Ramsgate this is the corner of Queen St and The High Street parly on the site of the newer part of Lloyds Bank and partly on where the road was widened

End of Ramsgate East Pier (harbour wall)

 Fort hill looking towards Paradise Street Margate this area was cleared to make way for the duel carriageway by Turner Contemporary

White Hart Hotel now White Hart Mansions Margate seafront