Prince's plea with time being called on the village pubs

Kay Jardine, The Herald, 17 December 2001

More than half of all English villages now have no pub, and 70% do not have a shop, according to a new report, with a similar picture in Scotland.

The Countryside Agency's report will be launched today by the Prince of Wales.

Paul Waterson, spokesman for the the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, said while there were no firm figures for Scotland, there were "significant" numbers of closures taking place.

"We have already lost rural post offices, banks, and now pubs. Very often they're not money-making concerns but they are often the heart and soul of the community." he said.

The report, The Pub is the Hub, says that the loss of the "local" often means the focal point for the rural community disappears, leaving a gap in the area's economy.

It is aiming to encourage landlords in England and Wales to diversify and maintain local services such as the post office and shop.

In his foreword to the document, Prince Charles said: "Rural communities, and this country's rural way of life, are facing unprecedented challenges.

"Now, perhaps more than ever in their history, they must draw on their resourcefulness and resilience, built up over centuries, to meet changing circumstances and find new ways to help themselves. But they need not, and indeed cannot do it alone.

"Most people are agreed that one of the major difficulties for those living in today's countryside is a lack of services.

"Finding new uses for village pubs, many of which are the only remaining service in the community, has become one part of Business in the Community's rural action programme under the headline 'Make the Pub the Hub'."

Mr Waterson supported the idea of diversification and said that some pubs in the Republic of Ireland had been doing it successfully for years. He added: "Pubs are part of the community in rural areas and if that can help them to be financially more viable then why not?"

John Longden, property adviser to the British Beer and Pub Association, which helped produce the report, and which estimates that around six rural pubs a week are closing in England and Wales, said: "There is no reason why this research and data can't be rolled out and made available to villages and rural areas in Scotland as well."