local solutions

My friend Chris Cowcher at Plunkett is a fabulous champion for community run pubs. It’s great to see this groundswell which I am sure he will be raising a glass to!!!

While hundreds of rural hostelries have shut down over the last decade, these establishments – generally owned by local “shareholders” – are gloriously bucking the trend.

In 2010, there were just 14 of them. Today, thanks to the mix of legislation, grant schemes, and rural residents determined not to lose their alehouses, more than 150 pubs once earmarked for closure are now owned by their local community.

Even that number is set to be dwarfed after applications to take over struggling establishments doubled during the last year. It means some 250 struggling boozers are currently subject to such a potential transfer of ownership.

“It is absolutely a success story,” says James Alcock, chief executive of the Plunkett Foundation, an Oxfordshire-based charity supporting such ventures. “We’ve had decades where the narrative has been that these businesses are not sustainable but it’s clear, once they are redirected towards the needs of local people – rather than the need to make profit – they become the real heart of their area once more.”

Whereas pub retailers have blamed cheap supermarket alcohol for their decline, this new breed of boozer has pivoted towards offering a far broader range of experiences. There’s good food and beer (both generally local), as well as staples such as live music and quizzes. But there’s also yoga sessions, soup kitchens, Scout nights, choir groups, art exhibitions and WI nights.