How community pubs are offering industry a ray of hope

Against a backdrop of pubs closing at the rate of more than one a day, community-run pubs are offering a ray of hope to the industry. VICTORIA LAMPARD reports.

The community-run pub model is one that is proving increasingly popular. Across Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire there are already 30 up and running, with a further 44 in the pipeline.

The charity Plunkett UK says there has been a success rate of 99% in the last five years. Compare that with commercial pubs and a figure of 500 closing a year, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

The Maybush Inn in Great Oakley was bought by the community eight years ago and teams of volunteers help to run it.

When Paul Cooper retired and moved to the Tendring area of Essex he was looking for a way to meet new people.

He came across the Maybush and found out the pub had been taken over and was in need of volunteers. He decided to give it a go and is now a regular behind the bar.

“I must have - without exaggerating - 200 new friends that I didn’t know when I came here.

"People who I’ll see in the street now, people who come and see me regularly at the pub. It’s an absolute joy, it really is.”

The committee has to make sure they’re on an even footing as a business but then after that, it’s all about what they can do for the community.

They host the village post office, as well as different groups, including a 'knit and natter' gathering.

Regular Margaret Priestland said: "I’ve got to know every lady’s name in the room and before I sat indoors knitting for about six years and didn't know anybody."

Elsewhere in Essex, The Case Is Altered in Great Bentley is also going from strength to strength.

It’s now celebrating 10 years of being a community-run pub. It takes a lot of time and effort to make it work but there is a lot of support, they told me.

Treasurer Peter Cross said: “You’ve either got to be a restaurant that serves beers, or you’re a wet pub. We’ve had to go down the route at the moment of being a wet pub, that’s purely because it pays.

"This model at the moment works for us.”

Campaigns are under way for more groups to take over their local.

If all goes to plan, the Gatehouse could be Norwich’s first community-run pub.

Money is also being raised to buy the Queens Head in Littlebury, near Saffron Walden in Essex.

Actor Cliff Parisi from Call the Midwife, Eastenders and Celebrity Masterchef is backing the campaign and has promised a monthly themed dish from the kitchen if they manage to hit their target of £350,000.

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