Co-operative movement steps in to save local pubs
The co-operative trade movement has pledged to step in and fill the gap left by the Government's decision to axe the Community-Owned Pub Support Programme.
At a Pubs Summit held last week in Cumbria, representatives of the movement vowed to assist communities that had applied for help under the previous Labour Government's £3.3m pubs initiative.
Peter Couchman, chief executive of the Plunkett Foundation, which helped create the original scheme, said: "We are pleased to say that the outcome of the co-operative Pubs Summit is that the co-operative movement will be developing a package of support to help the 82 communities that have asked for help with saving their local.
"We felt a strong moral duty to help these communities that the Government has turned its back on."
All 82 communities will be contacted to discuss adopting the co-operative model where appropriate (there are currently just four co-operatively owned pubs in the UK), while those looking for general advice on how to save their local from closure will be supported by the Campaign for Real Ale.
Introduced in March of this year by the Department for Communities, the Pub Support Programme was axed in August as the newly elected coalition government attempts to get to grips with the UK's large deficit.
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By Chris Druce
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