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News
Pub support scheme axed
The UK government has scrapped a £3.3 million support package for pubs and a further £1m grant for the Pub is the Hub scheme.
The revelation threatens to undermine prime minister David Cameron’s pledge to support the nation’s pub industry as part of his recently unveiled Big Society programme.
The funding was initially announced in March by the Labour government’s newly appointed minister for pubs, John Healey. However, the Community-Owner Pubs Support Programme was axed before any money had been handed out as part of the new government’s cost-cutting review of all government-funded projects approved after 1 January 2010.
According to The Sunday Telegraph, more than 80 groups had already come forward for advice on how to buy their local pub.
The Plunkett Foundation, which was responsible for leading Healey’s original proposals, informed those communities let down by this news that it “will continue to campaign for greater support for communities looking to save their pub through community-ownership.”
As the first step towards this promise, the foundation announced it would be calling an “emergency Co-operative Pubs Summit”. This will examine how existing expertise and resources can salvage some elements from the scrapped scheme.
Local government minister Bob Neill defended the decision, saying: “The new government has axed the unfair cider tax, is stopping loss-leading sales of alcohol by supermarkets, will be making it easy to play live music and is to give local communities new powers to save local pubs.”
Gabriel Savage, 10.08.10