I’ve spent the past week reading and re-reading the latest UK budget, running the numbers, rerunning them, and if I’m being completely honest with you… There isn’t a single line that feels like good news for our industry.

Leisure and hospitality — the heartbeat of community, tourism, joy, family time, human connection — is already on its knees after the previous budget.

This one has pushed even harder.

With the minimum wage rising again in April, margins that were already thin are now razor-thin.

Many businesses in our sector operate on margins of 3–7%, and a wage hike of this size can wipe out that entire buffer overnight.

It genuinely saddens me that the government continues to fall back on old-fashioned levers to fix modern problems. When labour costs rise, when rateable values rise, when supply chains rise… there’s only one mathematical outcome: prices must go up.

Suppliers, adventure centres, cafés, wedding barns, climbing walls — it will ripple everywhere.

And when prices rise across the board, inflation follows. It’s a loop we’ve been stuck in for too long.

For a moment, I felt a flicker of relief when the Chancellor announced a “permanently discounted multiplier” for business rates in our sector. But then you dig into the numbers.

Rateable values are actually going up, and with the removal of the 40% discount, it’s going to cost even more next year.

Sometimes I can’t help wondering what our economy would look like if more people in government had actually run a business.

• Felt the stress of payroll.

• Watched cashflow like a hawk.

• Stayed up late working out VAT liabilities, staff rotas, repairs, suppliers, and future plans all at once.

If they knew the pain points — and the opportunities — they might back growth, innovation, entrepreneurialism. Because I genuinely believe growing your way out of a hole is better for everyone.

Instead, small businesses get squeezed. The risk-takers get punished. And the very people who create jobs, create communities, and create culture are left wondering whether the big picture has forgotten them.

But here’s the thing.

I’ve built my entire life on optimism.

On refusing to be fixed, tied down, time-bound or defeated.

On turning every brick wall into a new route up the mountain.

And even though it’s tough right now — and about to get tougher — I honestly believe small entrepreneurs stand stronger than the giants.

Here’s why.

We may be small, but we’re flexible. Dynamic.

We’re the ones who fix problems in hours, not months.

We’re the ones who jump off cliffs and build the parachute on the way down.

It’s in our DNA.

Yesterday I opened the climbing centre alone. Turned the lights on. Mopped the floors. Emptied the bins.

Not because something was wrong — but because right now, every little saving matters. And truthfully? I enjoyed it.

It reminded me why I started in the first place. It grounded me. It made me proud.

That ability — to shift, adapt, roll up our sleeves — is something the “big boys” can’t do. They’re stuck with layers of management, bigger rents, bigger debt loads, and slower decision-making. For them, a crisis is a meeting. For us, it’s a Tuesday.

This is David vs Goliath.

Plus a government that’s making Goliath even bigger.

But I’m writing this letter to remind you — and remind myself — that honesty matters. Resilience matters. And right now, the world needs more truth from the people who actually feel the impact.

Yes, it’s tough.

Yes, sometimes we question every inch of why we do this.

But then I think of one quote that hits me almost daily now:

Rough seas make skilled sailors.

And that’s us.

We’re the sailors. The ones navigating storms with grit, heart and a belief that tomorrow can be better.

We’ve got this.

And as long as small business owners, creators, makers and doers keep showing up — this country still has a fighting chance.

Stay strong. Stay optimistic. And keep building the parachute on the way down.

Marc