The British government on Tuesday served up some financial relief to the nation's struggling pubs by cutting the amount of business tax they must pay.
The move follows warnings from the sector that measures in the government's annual budget last November would heap further pressure on an industry hit by mass closures in recent years as customers suffered from a cost-of-living crisis.
Pubs will receive a 15-percent cut to business rates from April followed by a two-year real-terms freeze, the government said in statement.
It equates to an average pub saving £1,650 ($2,275)annually, it added.
"We are pleased the government has listened to our concerns," said Emma McClarkin, chief executive of pubs lobby group BBPA.
"This pub-specific package will stave off the immediate financial threat posed by accelerating business costs and will help keep the doors open for many," she added in a statement.
The government said Britain had lost almost 7,000 pubs since 2010, or a reduction of about 15 percent.
The Labour administration of Prime Minister Keir Starmer had already announced that pubs in England and Wales could apply to open longer during this year's football World Cup to be held in the United States.