STOP THE ROT! SAVE YOUR LOCAL PUB!

Don’t wait for your pub to be threatened! For many years, Herefordshire CAMRA has vigorously campaigned and helped various local communities to successfully see off closure and conversion threats to their pubs.

Recent successes following Hereford CAMRA involvement include:

The Brewers Arms, West Malvern is now re-opened under community ownership.

The Broadleys, Hereford has stayed open after an attempt to convert the site to a convenience store was overturned.

The Boot Inn, Orleton reopened under community ownership in 2019, following a period of closure.

Has your community protected its pub yet? More than 300 pubs nationwide are now registered as Assets of Community Value (ACVs) under the provisions of the Localism Act 2011. Of those 300, Herefordshire can boast seven pubs registered, but we need more.

What are the benefits of registering a local pub? By getting your local pub registered, an ACV provides it with additional statutory protection. Most significantly, a pub registered cannot be offered for sale without the knowledge of the local community, and the community are automatically afforded a right to bid to buy it, should they wish to do so. Furthermore, it helps greatly should a planning application come along in the future that proposes to convert a pub into a dwelling. There can be little argument that a threatened pub is of vital community value, if it registered as an ACV. This then gives the council planners greater ability to resist ‘change of use’ planning applications in the future. For details go to My Community Rights website, and follow the link to Community Right to Bid if your pub is threatened.

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. Saving Your Local Pub a self-help booklet that sets out the actions that individuals and communities can take to save their pub when it is threatened with permanent closure and/or conversion to a private dwelling. It starts with discussing any proposed closure with the incumbent licensees, working up to ultimately, how to buy and operate the pub themselves. This 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. Visit the Pub is the Hub website.

Other positive local results include the Live & Let Live on Bringsty Common, the Red Lion at Kilpeck, and the Rhydspence Inn. Further, Herefordshire CAMRA has been actively involved in the transfer of pubs to community ownership, with the Crown Inn at Dilwyn and the Bell Inn at Yarpole now under community control.

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. 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.