A CALL has been made to freeze business rates to protect the hospitality industry in the city from a "potentially crippling" rise in April.

Recently bosses of city pubs, clubs, restaurants and hotels held crisis talks over soaring bills.

Up to 1000 city establishments could be hit with higher business rates this year with some facing a hike of around 200%.

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the Scottish Tourism Association, Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Glasgow Restaurant Association and the chairman of the Glasgow Licensing Forum have now joined forces to raise their concerns.

The call for a business rates freeze comes ahead of a meeting next week with Scottish Finance Minister Derek Mackay and Economy Minister Keith Brown.

Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick said: "We are calling for a complete freeze on business rates for the licensed trade.

"Many businesses in the hospitality sector are forecast to be liable for huge increases to their annual business rates which will be extremely damaging to already squeezed margins."

Representatives of the leisure sector say they are dismayed at the business rates rise which they claim is unfairly weighted against licensed premises.

They are subject to a different way of assessing business rates with a major focus on turnover when calculating final rateable value.

Assessors use figures from 2014/15 when many businesses reported a bumper year due to factors including the Commonwealth Games.

Mr Patrick said: "The process by which rateable value is calculated for licensed businesses is fundamentally skewed against the sector as turnover does not necessarily reflect company strength or profitability and the 2014/15 are unrepresentative of the current climate.

"All we are asking for is a level playing field which doesn't pose further challenges for such an important industry, especially at a time when the city has launched a masterplan to attract one million more visitors by 2023.

"The strength of the leisure economy is fundamental in achieving these ambitions with the retail and night-time economy contributing £5.46 billion to Glasgow's economy and sustaining 33,000 full-time jobs.

"With new, increased rates scheduled to take effect from April 1 action must be taken urgently.

"We look forward to our meeting with the Scottish Government next week to discuss opportunities to promptly address the issue, providing support for the sector.

"In the meantime, we continue to encourage businesses to check their new rateable value and to immediately start the appeals process if they are liable for a material increase."