- Details
- Written by Tony Morgan
- Category: Pub Protection
Local council elections are taking place on 5 May 2022 in Knowsley and Sefton. Councils in England have powers and responsibilities directly affecting pubs and social clubs, and are responsible for local policies relating to planning, licensing, local business rate reliefs and supporting businesses and culture more generally.
Liverpool & District branch of CAMRA are asking members in Knowsley and Sefton canvassed by election candidates to ask them for their support, if elected, in campaigning for pubs, clubs, breweries and cider producers.
If you meet any of the candidates explain what CAMRA is and what activities the branch carries out in the local area. Outline why you are a CAMRA member and why pubs, clubs, breweries and cider producers are important to you and to the local community. Ask candidates if they will, if elected, work with CAMRA to support, promote and protect local pubs and clubs in their ward and across the council area by: celebrating great local pubs, beer and cider; supporting action to help pubs thrive; representing the interests of pub goers and beer drinkers. You might like to ask for candidate’s views on how the Council can support pubs and breweries to recover from the COVID pandemic and support them during the cost of living crisis. Other issues that may be of interest are their views on protecting community pubs as part of local planning policies, and whether they think the council has sufficient pub protection policies in place.
Election candidates and, occassionally, their contact details can be found here: https://whocanivotefor.co.uk/
If you get a positive answer or pledge from any of the candidates, please send those responses to the CAMRA committee. It helps us keep a track of friendly contacts.
Thank you in advance,
Tony Morgan.
Public Affairs Officer, Liverpool & Districts CAMRA.
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- Details
- Written by Tony Morgan
- Category: Pub Protection
The supermarket giant Asda has started selling draught beer in its Milton Keynes store as an experiment, with the aim of introducing the “service” in more outlets across the UK from next year. ASDA have teamed up with a company called Craft on Draft (yes, they use North American English) to run the trial. Craft on Draft says there will be 12 different types of beer to choose from, supplied by smaller brewers but only Redchurch from London, and Fallen from Shropshire get named.
Seemingly, staff will use pub-style beer pumps to pour drinks into one-, or two-litre refillable glass containers that can be kept, reused, or recycled. ASDA say the aim is to help recycling and sustainability, as well as support smaller, local brewers. Very laudable, I just hope the supermarket staff will be well trained in serving beer or there may be a lot of wastage.
A litre of beer or cider will cost from £5.90 to £8.20 - so £2.95 to £4.10 per 500ml. A pint is 568ml. Think how much we pay for a pint locally, these prices undercut many of our local
pubs and bars.
I’m all for new beer and cider experiences but this, if successful, will not be good for the already struggling pub trade. Can’t say I blame the breweries involved though, many smaller breweries also need help and those involved no doubt welcome the extra outlets and income, but supermarkets already sell packaged beer at knock-down prices and are increasingly taking trade away from pubs. This sort of thing won’t help but I hope it will be a short-lived experiment.
Image is attributed to Corporate Asda https://corporate.asda.com/newsroom/2021/11/23/asda-becomes-first-uk-supermarket-to-launch-draught-beer-concept
- Details
- Written by Tony Morgan
- Category: Pub Protection
We endeavour to keep a track on what our local MPs are saying regarding pubs, cask beer and alcohol in general. To that end we regularly check their public Twitter accounts for any mention of things relevant to the Campaign.
Sadly, June and early July have been rather quiet in this regard, few MPs seemingly visiting pubs or mentioning real ale. Dan Carden (Liverpool Walton) does return several results, but these relate to his recent revelations of his battle with alcohol problems.
As responsible drinkers, CAMRA members will sympathise with Mr Carden and hope he has overcome his problems. Mr Carden has retweeted posts by the Alcohol Health Alliance UK (@UK_AHA) which mentions a recent from Public Health England about alcohol consumption during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was published on 15 th July 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-consumption-and-harm-during-the-covid-19-pandemic The report raises some interesting points such as, despite pubs being closed for 31 weeks during the lockdowns, alcohol consumption increased. Off-licenses and supermarkets sold just over 12.6 million extra litres of alcohol in the financial year 2020/21 compared to 2019/20 (a 24% increase). It appears that beer and cider drinkers are a temperate lot as other drink types are responsible for the increase. In 2020 to 2021, duty-paid wine and spirits increased compared to 2019 to 2020 (+9% and +7% respectively), while cider and beer decreased (-17% and -14% respectively). This should surely tell our elected representatives that the easy availability of cheap alcohol from supermarkets and shops is more of a problem than beer and cider sold in the controlled environment of a pub. Does it also suggest that beer drinkers prefer to socialise safely in pubs and not drink at home?
Peter Dowd (Bootle) has not made any recent comments about pubs or beer but has retweeted a post from a Litherland councillor about being considerate to the locals now that pubs have reopened.
- Details
- Written by Mel James-Henry
- Category: Pub Protection
New Loughborough University research has concluded that pubs are key to tackling loneliness amongst people of all ages and backgrounds.
A new report about the role of pubs in communities has found that they have a key role to play in tackling loneliness and offer a social value above and beyond the contribution they make to the economy.
The Open Arms: The Role of Pubs in Tackling Loneliness report was produced by Loughborough University, Heineken UK and The Campaign to End Loneliness.
The research found that pubs are an important part of a community’s infrastructure, just like libraries, cafés and community centres.
With social isolation and loneliness on the rise in all age groups as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, CAMRA is calling on governments across the UK to recognise the value of local pubs – and take action to make sure they are still around to help the nation’s healing process after the pandemic.
Commenting, CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona said:
“CAMRA welcomes this report which shows just how much pubs matter to individuals and communities, and why they are worth saving so that they can re-open and thrive post-COVID.
“Our pubs provide a safe, regulated environment in which to relax with a drink and mix with people of other age groups and backgrounds – and are often the only place left for people in many communities to meet. Yet too many had already closed even before COVID, with the coronavirus crisis put tens of thousands more at risk of permanent closure.
“It is vital that governments across the UK recognise the role that pubs will play as part of our social fabric, bringing people back together after this pandemic, and take action now to save our pubs.
“The Chancellor’s upcoming Budget is the perfect opportunity to commit to a long-term financial support package for pubs and breweries to see them through the tough months ahead. Pubs need greater help to get back on their feet again, which can be achieved by ending unfair and un-evidenced restrictions like the ‘substantial meal’ requirement once they are allowed to re-open.”
- Details
- Written by Tony Morgan
- Category: Pub Protection
Liverpool City Council have given permission for the demolition of The Bridge Inn, Childwall Valley Road, Belle Vale.
The current building was built in 1938 for Higson’s, replacing an older pub and it is possible there has been a building on the site from 1710. The new building was designed by local architect Harold Hinchcliffe Davies (1900-1960), who grew up in Orient Drive, Woolton. At the time the building was described as a 'luxurious hotel in the Art & Crafts style'. Higson’s built the new pub to take advantage of its closeness to a planned major road junction formed by the intersection of the new Childwall Valley Road (which was intended to continue as far as Warrington) and Kings Drive (a proposed Outer Circle route from Garston to Crosby). Neither of these road schemes were fully completed, and only part of the outer Circle, Kings Drive, was built.
After the demise of Higson’s, The Bridge Inn eventually ended up in the hands of private equity company Patron Capital, and it was closed in 2015 and put up for sale. Plans to demolish the pub and replace it with a small superstore were submitted to Liverpool City Council in 2016. There was some local opposition to the proposed redevelopment, but a spokesperson for the owner and developer at the time claimed that the inn had “no viable long-term future”. That spokesperson also said the pub had only remained open because the owner had been offering discount rents to ensure the building remained occupied. A familiar story often told before many local pubs are redeveloped.
In September 2020, Liverpool Council’s planning committee approved proposals for the development of a 2273 square meter branch of Home Bargains on the site. These plans have now been fully approved and the Bridge Inn will be lost.
Patron Capital’s published strategy is: “opportunistic and value-oriented, primarily targeting challenged assets such as distressed and/or undervalued property and property-related assets, loans and corporate entities.”. In other words, “we will buy something, sit on it until it is run down, then we will flog it off for redevelopment under the pretext no-one loves it”.
The Bridge Inn will not be the last local pub to undergo this sad end. In 2017 Patron and Heineken joined forces to buy Punch Taverns for £1.8bn. That deal gave Patron Capital 1,300 tenanted pubs, while Heineken had close to 1,900. Patron has a policy of disposing of what it calls “non-core assets”, in other words “if it’s not making us money it’s going”. Other pub owning groups have similar strategies.
The current pandemic will be used by pub companies and others as an excuse to close and sell off pubs. They will say they are “unviable”. Don’t let it happen. If you are worried your local pubs are under threat of closure contact your councillor and send them a copy of, or a link to, 
CAMRAs planning information for councils. Don’t let the developers pull the wool over the eyes of your representatives. If you are concerned that your local may be in danger, please contact Liverpool & District CAMRA. The Campaign has lots of help and advice available. Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Image: Google Street View)
- Details
- Written by Graham Murray
- Category: Pub Protection
Assets of Community Value – how to nominate a pub.
With all pubs and bars closed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic it is possible that some pub owners will be considering recovering any financial losses by selling some pubs. There is a real danger that we will see some of our local pubs closed, used for new purpose, or demolished for redevelopment. Thankfully, this closure process is now slightly more difficult thanks to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) (Amendment) (No 2) Order 2017. Owners now must apply for planning permission to change a pub:
- to a shop;
- to a restaurant or café;
- to a state funded school;
- to a temporary flexible use; or
- to be demolished.
Most local authorities have weak pub protection rules anyway and it is still far too easy to lose a pub to other uses or demolition and redevelopment.
In addition to this planning law, a tool called the Community Right to Bid, also known as Assets of Community Value (ACV), gives people the chance to bid to buy and take over the running of pubs that are of value to the local community. Community Right to Bid allows communities to nominate pubs and land for listing by the local authority as an ACV. If the pub comes up for sale, the community can ‘pause’ the sale and are given up to six months to find the funding required to buy the pub.
