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Big Society support plan is a good start - but not enough to save our pubs, say Norwich publicans

Nick De'Ath, chairman of Norwich city centre licensing forum. Photo: Bill Smith

Norwich publicans today welcomed government plans to give communities the chance to save threatened local pubs - but said landlords need more support in the first place to stop businesses going to the wall.

Prime Minister David Cameron has launched his “Big Society” plan, which includes support for communities looking to run pubs as social enterprises, mutuals or co-operatives.

While people in the pub trade in Norwich said any support for the industry was welcome, they believed it was vital to help landlords keep pubs open as well as offering support after they had closed.

They said it was clear the scheme would only work if locals were willing - and able - to take on pubs that had failed.

And concerns were voiced over the scope, range and delivery of support, with calls both locally and nationally for a commitment from the government to provide financial, legal and business advice to new co-operatives.

“If it works I think it's a great thing,” said Norwich city centre licensing forum chairman Nick De'Ath. “But it would be better if the people who were in the pub in the first place got the support before they went bust.”

Mr De'Ath, who runs the Lawyer and Unthank Arms pubs in the city, said enabling people to run their own pub would not help increase trade for establishments struggling with high business rates and rocketing costs.

“Pubs normally close because people are not going into them, and it's not until they are closed that people stand up and ask where they have gone.

“In small communities there are a fixed number of people who will come regularly to your pub - it's not like London where hundreds of people come past your door.

“If it becomes too expensive to drink in the pub, people will go elsewhere or stay at home instead.”

The Evening News has been runnng its Love Your Local campaign, with the aim of urging people to support their local. We believe pubs are a vital part of community life.

Martin Ward, vice-chairman of Norwich Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said the group welcomed any support from the government for independent pubs.

“If there is support there for the idea than we would gladly say this is a great idea, but without people in the community wanting to get involved it just can't happen,” he said.

“And obviously those involved have to have some kind of expertise - running a pub is a big commitment and people need all sorts of skills to do it well.”

Norwich was once famous for having a pub for every day of the year and there were 363 inside the city walls in 1905, but the number of pubs in the city has been falling for decades and is now under 150.

Pubs have been hit by inflation-busting increases in tax, the repercussions of the smoking ban, the rise in drinking alcohol at home and the increasing amount of cut-price beer being offered by supermarkets.

Rural pubs in Norfolk have also fared poorly over the last few years, with many village pubs closing their doors despite being the last ones remaining in their community.

Mr Ward said: “The pub is one of the focuses of British live that is sadly declining.

“Corner shops have gone, post offices are going, and now the pub is practically the only place left apart from places of worship in many villages for people to socialise and gather.

“Landlords now are trying to diversify by holding different sorts of events, opening themselves up as substitutes for the village hall or opening post offices.”

CAMRA nationally welcomed the Prime Minister's endorsement of pubs as local assets, and released new research showing 43pc of people would be willing to join forces to save their local if it was under threat.

Among regular pub-goers the figure rises to 63pc.

CAMRA head of policy Jonathan Mail said: “CAMRA is committed to ensuring the Government back up their vision of a Big Society with practical legal, business and financial advice to ensure the success of community attempts to save local pubs through community ownership.”

Mr Cameron announced four areas in Liverpool, Cumbria and London would be testing grounds for a range of new initiatives aimed at revitalising communities and giving local people the ability to run community services such as transport systems, libraries, museums and schools.

Each is set to get an expert organiser and dedicated civil servants to ensure “people power” initiatives get off the ground and inspire a wider change.

But the plans have been criticised by some as an attempt to use third sector services to ameliorate wide-spread cuts, forcing already-stretched voluntary services to cope with funding cuts at the same time as demand for their services increases.

More on the Love Your Local campaign can be seen at www.eveningnews24.co.uk/loveyourlocal.

Is your community at risk of losing its local? Call reporter David Bale on 01603 772429 or email david.bale2@archant.co.uk.