CAMRA survey: ACV status 'positive for pubs'

Getting listed as an Asset of Community Value benefits pubs, according to the majority of licensees surveyed by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Some 101 licensees responded to CAMRA's survey, with 85% saying ACV status benefits their pub, with the same percentage saying customers valued a pub being listed.

According to the majority of licensees who responded, the most beneficial aspect of an ACV listing is that people in the community are more likely to feel loyal to the pub and use it more regularly.

The trade has been debating the value of ACVs​, with some warning that they are only appropriate in certain circumstances.

'Valued'​

Tim Page, CAMRA chief executive, said: ​"This research clearly shows Asset of Community Value status is valued by publicans and is something which they are keen to display as a badge of honour. Our new ‘This Pub Matters’ window stickers​ are our way of helping pubs shout about the fact they are listed and also to get across the message that it is local people who nominate the pub – a clear indication of how much they value it."

CAMRA’s This Pub Matters​ campaign aims to raise the profile of ACV pubs and encourage more people across the UK to list their local, with the target of listing 3,000 pubs by the end of next year.

ACV case studies​

Ian Robertson of the Hare and Hounds in Blackburn said ACV status saved his pub from conversion: “In November 2014 the Hare and Hounds was on its knees, and it was about to be sold off to become a supermarket or flats. I had been outbid on the initial auction.

"Deploying the ACV had the desired impact on planning regulations and before contracts were exchanged the pubco had to re-run the bid process. This time I was successful based on restrictions as to what the premises could be used for.

"Without the ACV there is no doubt the building would now be a supermarket or turned into flats. It saved the pub from going under and the locals have grasped it and made it thrive. It's been a winning combination."

ACV status can play a particularly important role for pubs tied to the large pub companies, which have in some cases been sold off without the knowledge of the current tenant.

One licensee who responded to CAMRA’s survey, but who wishes to remain anonymous, said the status saved his pub from just such a fate: “Our pub being listed as an ACV certainly saved it from demolition and was perhaps even more important than the community’s objection to the subsequent planning application. By now there could have been six houses on the site if it wasn’t for the pub’s ACV status”.