Business rates for our shop in Rochdale were twice those of Harrods, say boutique owners forced out by £21,000 bill For six years, business had boomed at 25 Tenon Rochdale's high street But, they have been forced to close after they received a massive bill Shocked to find their bill is based on a valuation of £375 per square metre Harrod's is charged £189 per metre in the centre of London It may not have been a Harrods or a Harvey Nicks, but Paul and Kelly Turner-Mitchell were proud of their successful fashion boutique. For six years, business had boomed at 25 Ten while other shops in the recession-hit northern town of Rochdale closed. But now they have joined the exodus from the high street - forced out by sky-high business rates that saw them charged more than Harrods. Paul Turner-Mitchell said that he and his wife's store 25 Ten was forced to close down by sky-high business rates They say they could no longer afford the £20,882 a year cost and were shocked to find that their bill was based on a valuation of £375 per square metre. It meant they were charged double the £189 per square metre that Harrods pays, although the huge Knightsbridge department store's total bill is obviously far higher. "It is just wrong," said Mr Turner-Mitchell, 38, whose boutique sells mostly to women aged 18 to 35 and has Michelle Keegan, who plays Tina McIntyre in Coronation Street, among its customers. They had survived on Rochdale's main shopping street for six years before they received the bill Any form of taxation has to be fair and equitable. Harrods should not be paying a business rate charge which is half of what they are in Rochdale. It just cannot be right. The business rates system is not fit for purpose. He and his 35-year-old wife are moving 25 Ten to Littleborough, three miles away, where their business rates will be substantially lower. The couple were not the only victims in Rochdale of the much-hated rates system - a nearby fish and chip shop has its rates based on a charge of £945 per sq m, five times higher than Harrods. Mr Turner-Mitchell says hard-hit high street traders across the country are subsidising big London retailers. Small firms say business rates - the commercial equivalent of the council tax - are forcing them out of business. For most, the rates bill is their third biggest expense, after rent and staff costs, and is regularly cited as the biggest hurdle they face. Many are furious that, while ministers boast about cutting corporation tax, business rates are going up every year. Dr Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "We have long known that the business rates system is flawed. It is a tax on business, even before you start trading, whether you are in a northern suburb or the heart of London. The Government cannot ignore the plea [to look again at the tax] any longer. We need to see action. Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has called the system "unfair" and said that "it cannot be right that Rochdale has to subsidise places like Regent Street and Knightsbridge." Business rates were introduced in 1988 when the ill-fated poll tax replaced domestic rates. The system is notoriously complicated. It involves the Government's Valuation Office Agency setting the value of the business based on its rentable worth per square metre. They were charged double the £189 per square metre that luxury store Harrods pays This is then multiplied by the uniform business rate, an inflation-linked figure set by the Government, to calculate the total bill. But because the valuation of a premises is based on zones - with the 20ft nearest the front window rated highest, followed by the next 20ft and so on - smaller shops are often disproportionately affected. Values are set every ten years but the last, in 2010, was calculated using data from April 2008 at the height of the property boom. And the next valuation, which could help businesses in areas where property prices and trade have slumped, has been put back from 2015 to 2017. The money is collected by local councils but paid directly to central government and is currently worth £27billion a year, the same as council tax. The Valuation Office Agency said: "If the ratepayer thinks their rateable value does not reflect the rental value of the property, they should contact us to discuss it."