Scottish Pubs Code: guidance for pub owning businesses

Levy arrangements 2026-2027

Following the consent of Scottish Ministers to proceed with the setting of a levy, totalling £450,000 for the financial year 2026–27, this statement sets out the methodology used to determine and fairly apportion that levy across the sector.

The levy has been allocated among the 31 pub-owning businesses operating in Scotland with one or more tied pubs.

The levy has been calculated based on both overhead and direct costs, ensuring that contributions reflect the scale of each business’s operations and their anticipated engagement with the SPCA. The 2026–2027 levy apportionment was determined as follows:

• overhead costs (87%) - these reflect the costs of operating the SPCA office and have been apportioned based on the number of tied pubs each business reported up to 24 March 2026 
• direct costs (13%) - these reflect the estimated number of arbitration cases expected to involve each pub-owning business for the period 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027

The total levy amount applied to the 31 pub-owning businesses ranged from 1% to 34% of the total amount. The minimum levy is £810.81 and the maximum is £152,432.28.

The SPCA remains firmly committed to ensuring value for money in the delivery of its statutory functions. We recognise the importance of careful management of industry contributions and are fully accountable for the prudent stewardship of levy income. We remain committed to regularly reviewing our operational processes and cost controls to ensure that resources are used efficiently, transparently, and in line with our responsibility to the sector.

Pub-owning businesses subject to the levy:

• Admiral Taverns
• Brian Curley
• Brookgreen Limited
• Bruce Taverns
• Cairn Leisure Partnership
• Caledonian Heritable
• Flodrive Estates Limited
• Greene King
• Iona Pub Partnership
• JF Kegs (Scotland)
• Kingdom Taverns
• NMDJ Investments Limited
• OKScotland.co.uk Ltd
• Oxford Hotels and Inns Management
• Punch Pubs
• Rosemount Taverns
• Scotsman Group
• Sniper & Co Ltd
• Star Pubs
• Stirling Brewery Ltd
• Stirling Inns
• Stirrup Stane (Livingston) Limited
• Stonegate
• Strandpark Properties Limited
• Suburban Taverns Ltd
• The Dolphin (Dundee) Limited
• The Porty Pub Co Ltd
• Trust Inns
• William Boath

More information

Read Scottish Pubs Code Adjudicator - levy setting arrangements 2026-2027: statement