Community pubs to receive Government funding boost

The Government has confirmed a further £70,000 of funding for ‘Pub is The Hub’ to support rural pubs to widen their ‘offer’ beyond food and drink.

The new funding is expected to deliver 36 projects which will help revamp local pubs with services ranging from village shops, libraries, and allotments, post offices to community cafes and cinemas.

They say this will create an estimated 30 full time and 59 part-time/voluntary jobs; benefiting 31,400 local users.

Government funding since 2012 for Pub is The Hub now totals £390,000.

Community Pubs Minister Jake Berry MP said: ‘Our great British pubs are not only places for local people to get together over a pint, being at the heart of their communities they are perfectly placed to deliver valuable services, especially in rural areas.

‘From postal facilities to community playgrounds, Pub is The Hub provides fantastic support to licensees wishing to diversify, ensuring their pubs are both thriving and firmly rooted in their local communities.’

Pub is The Hub gives the example of the Swan Inn in North Yorkshire.

The pub has benefitted from previous funding, and now provides advice and funds towards equipment to help provide IT training, adult learning sessions including local history and ancestry as well as a café to host a weekly over 60’s coffee morning.

The Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide 2019, published yesterday (September 13), reports a resurgence of independent breweries who put social responsibility at the core of their business.

The guide gives examples of a pub in South London that trains people with learning difficulties to brew beer and a pub in Stratford-upon-Avon that uses a small solar farm, wind turbines and boreholes for their brewing.

‘The emergence of gastropubs and community-run pubs has helped to diversify the traditional pub offering to make them more welcoming to all sectors of society,’ said Tom Stainer, chief communications officer at the Campaign for Real Ale.

Pub is the Hub was set up in 2001 with the support of HRH the Prince of Wales, to help improve community services and activities in primarily rural areas.