Yorkshire drinkers urged to ‘protect your pubs’ from closure

Just days after the Chancellor announced a third consecutive cut in beer duty in the Budget, the Government said new regulations had been laid giving communities a greater say in the planning process to protect local pubs.

Extra funding has also been announced which will be pumped into schemes to support community ownership of pubs.

Ministers dubbed today Community Pubs Day and called on people to mark it by “listing their local” as an asset of community value so it can be given extra protection.

More than 600 pubs have been registered so far as an asset of community value and campaigners have pledged to triple that number this year to take advantage of the change in the law.

Twenty five of those registered are in Yorkshire and include the now-closed Holywell Inn near Halifax which local campaigners are hoping to buy and reopen.

Campaigners in Holywell Green have already raised a substantial sum towards the estimated £350,000 needed to buy the building.

Other registered pubs include the White Swan at Hunmanby which was the subject of a successful community campaign.

Keighley Conservative MP and Community Pubs Minister Kris Hopkins said: “Hot on the heels of this Government’s hat-trick of beer duty cuts, I am delighted to raise a glass to the great British pub and all those communities who have worked so hard to make our locals an integral part of our lives.

“The great British pint might have just got a penny cheaper but I can tell you now, having visited breweries and pubs across the land to see first-hand the innovation under way in this great sector, that our beer has never tasted better.

“A lot of hard work has been put in by communities to protect their beloved pubs from sell-off and many more could be afforded this protection, which is why we are calling on people to celebrate the first-ever Community Pubs Day by considering whether they might want to list their local.”

The Government is also giving £100,000 to an initiative to help landlords diversify to provide services such as shops and post offices called Pub is The Hub.

Tim Page, of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), said: “Thanks to the efforts of the thousands of Camra members who lobbied their local MP, from April 6 when a pub is listed as an asset of community value in England it will receive full planning protection, ultimately giving communities a say in what happens if the owner wishes to demolish the pub or convert it to another use.

“This is a powerful step towards protecting our valued community pubs. All it takes is a local group or 21 locals to start the process of having a pub listed as an ACV, so let’s push the number of listed pubs from hundreds to thousands.”

John Walsh, who is part of a group trying to buy the former Holywell Inn, said recently that registering as a community asset was a vital first step to allow a community to put a bid together and to prevent a quick sale taking place.

He said local councils were taking heed of the community asset status before deciding on planning applications relating to pub buildings.

Pubs do not have to be threatened with closure or demolition to be registered.

Camra’s list of pubs and former pubs given community asset status includes four in Kirklees: The Greyhound, Birstall; the Old Turk, Dewsbury; Bay Horse, Hade Edge and the Sair, Huddersfield.

Three are registered in York: The Mitre, Rawcliffe; Golden Ball and the Fox Inn, Holgate Road.