The Roscoe Head pub in Liverpool has been included in every edition of The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide. CAMRA's good beer guide is a renowned book for promoting only the best local pubs, following a voting process, and the Roscoe Head has been chosen for 47 Years. There have only been 5 pubs throughout the country that are known to have appeared in every edition.
Liverpool & Districts CAMRA Branch became involved in the fight to save the Roscoe Head back in 2015 when the pub was sold by its then owners Punch Taverns, a large pub owning businesses (Pubco), to NewRiver REIT Plc (another Pubco) which came with various rumours that the Roscoe was under threat with closure.
That fight was won and the Roscoe continued to sell excellent pints and be included in the GBG.
NewRiver have since formed their own pub owning company, Hawthorn Leisure, and the Roscoe has been transferred to this new Pubco.
An application to have the pub listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) was submitted by Carol Ross (leaseholder of the Roscoe) and was accepted by Liverpool City Council. This gives the listed property some additional planning protection in that the Planning Authority have to take cognisance of the fact that an ACV is in place if a planning application is submitted for a change of use. It also allows time for a community group to submit a bid to purchase the pub.
The current ACV expires in September 2020 and The Liverpool & Districts CAMRA Branch set out to seek support for a further application to be submitted to ensure there was no lapse in the ACV cover.
CAMRA succeeded in obtaining support, via the Liverpool & Districts CAMRA Branch website and its social media platforms, from 65 local residents enabling an unincorporated community group, “Save The Roscoe Head 2020”, to be formed with Steve Downing, a local CAMRA member, acting as their spokesperson.
The new application is awaiting verification by Liverpool City Council.
We continue to support Carol and will be sharing any future campaigns on the Liverpool & Districts CAMRA Branch website.
Steve Downing quoted
“Roscoe - a Liverpool name and a pub to savour. One of England's best city centre pubs is found in Liverpool - the Roscoe Head named after William Roscoe MP for Liverpool elected in 1806. He fought for the right to vote to a greater number of people and to abolish slavery. Fittingly the Roscoe Head serves its local community with licensee Carol Ross and her staff welcoming customers local and visitors alike as they enter the small bar and snug from the Roscoe street. With two small lounges the Roscoe shows how to divide a small pub into series of spaces making it a comfortable and welcoming place to spend time - how we have missed it!
The Roscoe is a unique example of a community led city centre hostelry fully deserving its ACV status which is up for renewal. It is family run Carol following on from her parents Nicky and Margaret Joyce. It has long been a favourite with CAMRA who entered it in the first Good Beer guide in 1974 and it has been in this top selling pub guide ever since which makes it extra special nationally. A true city centre local that is nationally renowned - the famous Roscoe Head.”
Pub leaseholders belonging to Pubco owning chains with more than 500 pubs have extra rights under the pubs code such as MRO (market rent only), but Hawthorne / NewRiver do not fall under this scheme due to their pub numbers, so Carol does not have this safety net in her lease.
Notes to editors
CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is a not-for-profit consumer group with nearly 200,000 members that has been operating since 1971. Our vision is to have quality real ale and thriving pubs in every community. For further information visit https://www.camra.org.uk
For local CAMRA information visit https://www.liverpoolcamra.org.uk
