Sarah Townsend,
Regeneration & Renewal,
22 February 2010
Government plans to rejuvenate the struggling pub industry will include support for community ownership of pubs at risk of closure.
Earlier this month, housing and planning minister John Healey accepted
responsibility for developing steps to tackle the rising number of pubs
that have closed in the recession.
Statistics from trade body the British Beer & Pub Association showed
that 2,365 pubs closed in 2009, while a report last month by umbrella
body Co-operatives UK estimated that one pub is closing every three
hours.
A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government
said: "Ministers recognise the important role pubs can play in
maintaining community life and are concerned about the number of pubs
that have been forced to close. They are determined to tackle this and
give them a helping hand during the recession."
He said measures would include support for an initiative similar to
Scottish-style community right-to-buy legislation, which would make it
easier for residents and community groups to buy pubs at risk of
closure.
The spokesman was unable to disclose further details about the
proposals, but Healey said: "I am aiming to finalise a package of
practical help in the next few weeks."
He added that pubs "are often the centre of community life".
Last month, Salford residents took over ownership of the Star Inn, which
had been given three weeks' notice of closure. It is now run as a
co-operative, with 62 residents each owning a share. The inn is one of
two community-owned pubs in the UK, according to Co-operatives UK. The
other, The Old Crown in Cumbria, was launched as a co-operative in
2003.
A spokeswoman for Co-operatives UK said that a third pub, in Yorkshire,
is due to pass into a community ownership this month and two other pubs,
in Cumbria and Wales, are considering a community buy-out as an
alternative to closure.
But in 2008, Derby New Deal for Communities partnership, Derwent
Together, failed to transform the local Blue Boy pub into a
community-owned business and was forced to give up the management of
it.
David Coulter, deputy chief executive of Co-operatives UK, said:
"Co-operatives are not the only answer to the problems surrounding the
pub industry, but for many communities they offer hope as a way of
saving essential community services and bolstering the local
economy."
