STOP THE ROT! SAVE YOUR LOCAL PUB!
CAMRA, in conjunction with the 'Pub is the Hub' and 'Business in the Community' organisations, have jointly issued a booklet aimed at communities that are threatened with losing their pub. Entitled 'Saving your Local Pub' the sixteen-page self-help booklet sets out the actions that individuals and communities can take to save their pub when it is threatened with permanent closure. It starts with discussing any proposed closure with the incumbent licensees, working up to ultimately, how to buy and operate the pub themselves. This useful publication, available free from CAMRA, has many useful pointers on what can be done. Importantly, it highlights many examples from around the UK of 'non-viable' pubs that would have closed forever, had it not been for the active intervention of the communities in which they were located.
This booklet sets out what actions a community can take, should they find their village local under threat of closure and/or conversion to a private dwelling. Visit the Pub is the hub website.
Over the past eight or nine years, Herefordshire CAMRA has vigorously campaigned and helped numerous local communities successfully see off closure and conversion threats to their pubs, the latest being the Ancient Camp Inn at Eaton Bishop, the Red Lion at Kilpeck, and the Vine Tree in Ross-on-Wye. Last year we were delighted to announce the reopening of the Live & Let Live on Bringsty Common and expect to be able to announce another re-opening shortly.
CAMRA has also set up the Community Pubs Foundation, a new organisation set up with the aim to:
| • | Prevent the loss of, or inappropriate alterations to, a public house of community, architectural or historical importance |
| • | Improve the viability of a public house through the provision of community facilities |
| • | Protect the future of a public house through community ownership |
The Foundation will provide advice and small grants to local groups seeking to prevent the loss of their local pub
Visit the Community Pubs Foundation website where you can also download 'Saving your Local Pub' and also leaflets on public house viability, running a pub-saving campaign and dealing with planning applications.