Prince launches guide on saving local pubs

by Tony Halstead Prince Charles has launched a new guide to saving local pubs with a visit to the Old Crown, at Hesket Newmarket in Cumbria. The isolated village inn was saved from closure six months after local people rallied round. The new guide, Saving Your Local Pub has been produced by the Campaign for Real Ale, with the help of the Pub is the Hub movement, to coincide with National Pubs Week. It collects together the experiences and know-how of hundreds of people who have already saved their local pub. Prince Charles said the booklet was a "tool-kit" for communities looking to save their local pub, "giving them a clear way forward by providing knowledge about how to do it and pitfalls to avoid". Prince Charles has given enthusiastic backing to the Pub is the Hub initiative, which forms part of his wider campaign to champion the regeneration of isolated rural villages and communities across the UK. The Prince also saw the way in which the Old Crown's revival had helped other businesses in the remote village, notably the sub post office which is now also enjoying a new lease of life. Julian Ross, chairman of the Old Crown Co-operative management committee, said 125 people took out a shareholding of £1,500 each to help raise the £200,000 needed to buy the pub. The co-operative sold a 21-year lease to licensees Lou and Linda Hogg last September on flexible trading terms, the only fixed requirement tieing the pub to cask beers supplied by the micro plant. Pub is the Hub organiser John Longden said the Old Crown and the village stood out as beacons in the rural regeneration campaign. "It shows graphically just what can be achieved when local people rally round to save businesses vital to their community," he said. "The campaign is now moving on fast and the publicity we are receiving has led to more and more enquiries from rural village groups worried about the future of their local pub." The Pub is the Hub is in the process of forming a network of regional consultants who will tour their respective areas giving advice to interested parties. What Prince Charles said: "I have been immensely impressed by the tenacity and vision of so many people throughout the country who have battled to ensure that their pubs remain the hubs of their communities. I hope this guide will give those who follow in their footsteps the help that they need.