Friday saw the beginning of British Pub Week, and Plunkett is calling on communities across the UK who might be at risk of losing their local to consider the potential of community ownership.
Around 4 rural pubs close each week (CAMRA), but the co-operative approach has worked for many different communities, helping them to breathe new life into their local and save the asset for the whole community. Co-operative pubs are different because they encourage widespread community ownership at a level the majority of the community can afford. Co-operative pubs are set up on a ‘one member one vote’ basis rather than a ‘one share one vote’ basis. This creates a democratic way of running a community business and ensures that everyone has a say in how they want their local pub to be run.
If your pub is at risk of closure, you can potentially register it as an asset of community value using the new Community Rights powers (in England only) – the My Community Rights website can provide a good starting point (http://mycommunityrights.org.uk/) or you can contact us here at Plunkett for some more information and guidance. You can also have a look at how other communities have taken control and saved their local on the case studies section of our website.