Save our pubs - good news from Pewsey, bad news from Staverton

10.11.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Aug 2010

Beehive Bradford

Pubs around the country are going out of business and the sight of abandoned licensed premises is becoming increasingly familiar.

It's estimated that nationally 39 pubs a week are closing.

Village pubs are particularly vulnerable if they don't get the support of their local community.

Rose & Crown Trowbridge

However villagers in Honeystreet in Pewsey are fighting back. They've won a lottery grant to save the future of their local pub and will have their story filmed for a prime-time BBC One TV series next year. Honeystreet villagers last summer applied to Village SOS - a scheme by Big Lottery Fund and the BBC - to save the Barge Inn, which was at risk of closure. After fighting off competition from 24 other village business proposals across the UK, the Barge Inn Community Project has been announced as one of the scheme's six winners and will receive a Big Lottery Fund grant of £273,840 to make the villagers' dreams of taking over the pub a reality. See a video and full information about the project at http://www2.biglotteryfund.org.uk/prog_village_sos?tab=2

Sad Scene at Southwick

Reasons for the decline are complex, but excessive government taxation, the recession, and the way the trade is organised are all involved.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Razzall has put a question to ministers in the House of Lords about the Supply of Beer (Tied Estate) Order 1989. "Some publicans felt the market would not stand large increases, so they kept their prices down and headed to bankruptcy," he writes. "Some publicans increased their prices to meet the new cost and as a result of competition with supermarkets and big chains they priced themselves out of the market, lost their customers and closed down. This situation should not be allowed to continue."

Felled - The Royal Oak at Swallowcliffe

Meanwhile we can all help. England expects that every man will do his duty, and when it comes to saving the local pub, I think we all know what that duty involves.

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CAMRA has called for planning law changes to stop pubs being demolished or converted to other uses without planning permission. Speaking at a meeting of MPs and Peers organised by the Save the Pub Parliamentary Group, CAMRA called for:

• a change to planning rules to close the current loophole which allows pubs to be converted to shops, cafes, restaurants or financial services offices without the need for planning permission

Closed pub in Tisbury

• planning permission to be required before a pub is bulldozed

• a ban on the use of restrictive covenants which are imposed to prevent closed pubs from ever being reopened

• national policy guidance to require councils to put policies in place to protect community pubs whether in a rural, suburban or urban location

For more details see www.camra.org.uk

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One of the effects of the 2003 Licensing Act was to create uncertainty about what live music was permitted. Unless the music is 'incidental' to the main purpose of the licensed premises a license is needed, but a change to the rules may make things easier for bar owners to put on live music. 'Minor Variations' to the license can now be brought in at a cost of £89 - previously it was £600 to change anything. So if you're a licensee and you think a bit of live music could bring in the customers check with the council licensing department to see if it could work for you.

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Dereliction causes vandalism and arson. The Beaufort Arms in Wootton Basset went up in flames in September 2009. (Picture Gazette & Herald)

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I'm signed up to the pub pledge:

"Pubs are an important part of the British way of life, lie at the social heart of communities and offer a supervised environment for the responsible enjoyment of lower strength drinks like beer.

The sector employs more than half a million people and provides an important contribution to national income. Yet dozens of pubs are closing every week across the country.

I therefore believe that the Government, industry, local authorities and others must work together to support British pubs and British beer as part of efforts to enhance community life and promote economic recovery."

You can do the same - go to http://www.backthepub.com/

The Old Bear St Staverton closed suddenly this summer

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Following the Manifesto launch on April 14th, CAMRA would like to take the opportunity to warmly welcome the Liberal Democrats' manifesto pledges on the following:

The Liberal Democrats stated that they would seek to avoid unfairly penalising responsible drinkers, pubs and important local industries. Specifically, they have pledged to:

• Support a ban on below-cost selling

• Support the principle of introducing a minimum price per unit of alcohol

• Review the current system of taxation for alcohol

• Reform business rates and make small business rate relief automatic

• Reintroduce the rule allowing two performers of unamplified music in any licensed premises without the need for an entertainment licence, and to allow licensed venues for up to 200 people to host live music without the need for an entertainment licence

• Require a local competition test for all planning applications for new retail developments and establish a local competition office within the Office of Fair Trading to investigate anti-competitive practices at a local and regional level.

• Implement the Sustainable Communities Act Amendment Bill, which gives local communities the right to propose actions in their area to improve sustainability.