The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is replacing its annual National Pubs Week event with a scheme designed to specifically highlight the plight of the ailing community pub.

Next February the consumer group will launch its first Community Pubs Week to raise the profile of community boozers, which often form a social hub, especially in rural areas.

In 2005 Camra research found 26 pubs a month were closing down in Great Britain, with a disproportionately high amount of them community pubs.

Camra has warned that its latest research, which will be unveiled officially next year, is likely to show this decline has been hastened.

Camra chief executive Mike Benner said: “All soaps on TV and radio have community pubs – The Rovers Return, The Queen Vic, The Woolpack – but sadly many real communities in rural and urban areas are in danger of losing or have already lost their community pubs.”

Community pubs are defined by Camra as a pub that appeals to a wide-cross section of the local community rather than predominantly targeted at particular social or age groups as many heavily branded operations are.

Community Pub Week will run from 17 to 24 February 2007.

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By Chris Druce

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