In a hard-hitting letter to Ms Reeves, the group says publicans have been left “angry” and “stunned” by changes to business rates announced in the autumn budget.

Ministers insist they are offering protection with a promise of £4.3 billion in transitional relief that will impose caps on increase in business rates faced by pubs and other high street businesses.

However, critics says that this relief will be phased out after three years, which will leave thousands of pubs facing financial ruin.

The charity’s intervention is highly sensitive given the King’s long-standing concern about the disappearance of rural pubs, often the last remaining community amenity in villages across Britain.

Pub is the Hub was established as a non-profit organisation to give struggling landlords specialist advice on diversifying their businesses – including adding shops, cafés or Post Offices – to keep their doors open.

King Charles has made frequent visits to pubs helped by the scheme and last year made a personal donation to its community services fund.

When launching the initiative, he warned of the “unprecedented challenges” facing rural life and said pubs had huge potential to act as “one-stop shops” for communities.

The King plays no active role in running the organisation or setting its political stance. But the charity says the situation has now reached crisis point.

Around one pub a day is predicted to close next year, leading to “thousands of vital job losses that will be devastating for communities across the country”.

The letter says decisions announced in the November Budget sparked “real anger among publicans and pub businesses across England who, understandably, feel badly let down”.

The signatories warn that while warehouses used by online giants will face an average business rates increase of 7%, “the average community pub, the place where the social fabric of Britain is weaved, will be hammered with a damaging increase of 10 times the magnitude of this”.

Hospitality is the UK’s third-largest employer and accounts for 7% of GDP, yet the letter claims the sector overpays business rates relative to turnover by a factor of five compared with other industries.

It adds that while the average hospitality venue hands over 40% of its turnover to the taxman, Amazon recorded UK turnover of £29bn last year but paid £1bn in tax – just 3.4% of turnover.

Andrew Slee, chief executive of the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates, said: “Labour committed to levelling the playing field, but I have been trying to make sense of what happened in the Budget since the full horror of it emerged. It is such catastrophically bad policy that I can only think it was a mistake. No one could have looked at this and thought ‘this makes sense, so we’ll go with it’. It is madness.”

Mr Slee said the industry is demanding that the current 40% discount on business rates for hospitality is retained while a long-term solution is worked out.

The letter has also been signed by the British Beer and Pub Association, UK Hospitality, Independent Family Brewers of Britain, Hospitality Ulster and the British Institute of Innkeeping.

The pub and brewing sector generates £18bn in tax, meaning widespread closures would be self-defeating for the Treasury, the groups warn. Surveys show two-thirds of adults believe their local pub is vital in combating loneliness and isolation.

While ministers have played down the impact of next year’s tax rises, Mr Slee said the plan to remove transisitonal relief after three years will make long-term planning impossible – and force many pubs to shut for good.

The Chancellor has repeatedly framed the reform as permanent lower tax rates for pubs and high‑street businesses from April 2026, saying the Government wants to help small firms thrive and support growth, not strangle them with outdated rules

Officials say over half of ratepayers will see no increase at all, and most increases will be capped at 15% or less next year — with the smallest pubs potentially limited to rises of around £800 in 2026/27.