Rural entrepreneurs raise a glass to £3.3m to halt pub closures

Community ownership of pubs is to be piloted by rural social entrepreneurs as the government calls time on the problem of 39 closures per week.

The Communities and Local Government department today gave £3.3m to the Plunkett Foundation to run a trial programme that aims to save 50 pubs from closure over the next three years.

The idea builds on Plunkett’s success in saving village shops.

Plunkett CEO Peter Couchman said community-owned shops now saved or reopened ten per cent of village shop closures.

‘Community-ownership can secure the future of pubs, just as it is doing for village shops,’ Couchman said.

Plunkett’s figures show that 75 per cent of people would now look to community ownership as a solution if a local shop were threatened.

Like the village shop support programme, communities who want to rescue their pubs will receive grants but will also be expected to raise their own finance through share issues. Co-operative and Community Finance will be partnering with the programme and has committed to providing loan finance of at least £2m.

However, with only 400 community shop closures last year compared to 2,365 pub closures, Plunkett communications officer Mike Perry admitted there was a big task ahead.

Perry said the strength of the partners in the pub programme – which includes the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) – would help ensure success.

CAMRA will be telling its 100,000 members about the community-ownership model. Its CEO, Mike Benner, called the initiative ‘excellent news for communities faced with the unnecessary closure of a valued local pub’.

Benner added: ‘We are delighted to be involved in this support programme to make community ownership of these essential local services a reality for many.’

The Community-Owned Pubs Programme was announced as part of a wider £4m package of legislative and business support by pubs minister John Healey.

Support will be available to any pub that plays an important community role and not just rural pubs. Other partners who will be working with Plunkett include the Office of the Third Sector, the pub advice centre Pub is the Hub, which was initiated by the Prince of Wales in 2001, Co-operatives UK and the Co-operative Development Network.