Campaign to Save Local Pubs

New Campaign Campaigns

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  LET'S CALL TIME ON THE GREAT BRITISH PUB SCANDAL.

  A Pubs Watchdog is urgently needed to govern the behaviour of large pub companies (which own around a third of UK pubs) and ensure publicans are treated fairly. A key role for the Pubs Watchdog would be to ensure rents and wholesale prices are reasonable. Last year the Government recognised that “there is some real hardship in the pubs sector, with many pubs going to the wall as publicans are struggling to survive on tiny margins. Some of this is due to pubcos [pub companies] exploiting and squeezing their publicans by unfair practices and a focus on short-term profits. Four Select Committee reviews since 2004 have highlighted these problems” (Vince Cable MP, January 2013). In 2013 the Government rightly concluded that “a change in the law is now needed to shift behaviour”. However, time is rapidly running out to introduce these important changes. The case for action: • In a 2013 survey, the majority (57%) of publicans renting pubs from the large pub companies reported earning less than £10,000 a year. • Typically these publicans have to buy all their beer from their pub company and are not allowed to buy on the open market. This can inflate the cost to publicans by around 50p a pint. • The large pub companies have disposed of thousands of pubs in the last four years alone and plan to sell many more every year. • In total 96% of people responding to a Government consultation survey declared their support for a Pubs Watchdog. Publicans with the large pub companies should be given the option to buy one real ale on the open market – known as a guest beer right. They should also be given the option to choose a market rent only contract that would allow a publican to buy all of their beer on the open market from any brewer they choose. Please sign this petition and tell the Government to stick to its clear promise by introducing a Parliamentary Bill in this year’s Queen’s Speech.

  44,842 of 45,000 Signatures

  Created by Colin Valentine
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  Save the historic black bull stairfoot barnsley

  It's our heritage, our local history.

  13 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Louise Evans
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  Protect small cider producers

  CAMRA fully supports the production and availability of real ciders and perries. In many cases the proposed action would make small scale cider production uneconomic. This is wholly disproportionate given that a small producer selling up to 33 pints a day has no capacity to affect EU trade to any meaningful degree. The case for rejecting the request by the EU to tax small cider producers: - Someone producing less than 70hl (12,000 pints) will generally be making less than £10,000 a year in sales. This means the tax exemption only applies to very small businesses, such as hobbyists or farm-gate producers. If a duty were to be levied on these producers it would make their operations uneconomic and lead to wide-spread closure. - 80% of Britain’s 500+ cider makers are currently small producers. A tax will severely impact on consumer choice and will cause irreparable damage to one of the nation’s most historic industries. - An exemption from this duty is essential to supporting the growth of a vibrant but still small cider and perry market. - A tax charge of up to £2,700 would drive many small cider producers out of business costing jobs, harming the countryside and dramatically reducing consumer choice.

  26,931 of 30,000 Signatures

  Created by Katie McKelliget
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  Friends of The Blackburne Arms

  This public house as been the heart of the community since being built in 1928. Its steeped in local history dating back to Robert Ireland Blackburne after whom the pub is named after. The links to Orford Manor and the old Orford Hall (now Orford Park) partnership with Warrington Memorial Bowling Green whose Trustees actually own most of the surrounding land and of course the adjacent Playing Fields allotments. Its grounds is also a habit for protected species such as newts, toads and other wildlife that can be found with the grounds.

  778 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Mark Moran
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  Campaign to save the Camp public house St Albans

  The Camp is the epitome of your friendly local pub and has been serving the city of St Albans for over 100 years. With locally brewed real ales, and great value pub food – our local pub is at the heart of the community. The pub is also the social hub of the area, providing local entertainment including regular quiz and karaoke nights, evening events to raise money for local charities and hosting live televised sporting events. Despite being the centre of the community, soon locals in St Albans will be left without their local pub. The pub is due to close on 15th May and we desperately need your help to save it. The closure of the Camp public house demonstrates how vulnerable communities are to speculative and aggressive development tactics. An application to register the Camp as an Asset of Community Value has now been submitted to St Albans City Council. With the closure of the Camp imminent, we need you to help us urge the Council to accept the application to list the pub immediately. This will ensure planning permission is required for the pub to be demolished or converted to any other use. The listing also gives the community an opportunity to potentially come together to form a co-operative group to buy and run our local pub. Please sign this petition and urge the City Council to accept the nomination to ensure the pub continues to be part of our local community.

  742 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Steve Bury
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  Save the Acton Arms Morville

  Our pub is an important part of the local community, we do not want to loose it. We would like to see the Acton open again, we miss the contact with our friends and neighbours. Many teams are run from it, its a place where you can find help for all sorts and it can be so much more. Some of our locals have offered the pub company to run it as a managed house so the pub can reopen again but so far the pub-co has refused. We don't understand why, it is much easier to find a tenant for a pub that is open and running, or do they have plans which none of us know about?

  222 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Lilly Jones
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  Save the William IV pub

  The pub was sold to developers by Young’s Brewery, even though an offer to purchase to run this as a community pub was made not far off the full market value. This was declined by them. Meanwhile locals were informed that the pub was being sold as a going concern only to find it boarded up overnight and sold to developers. The William IV is the only non-gastro, hotel or family orientated pub left in the village. It had planning rejected on it in the past as the council deemed it important to the community. It has a very special atmosphere and there are very few places in the country left like this pub. The William IV is the beating heart of our community, where community and charitable events are organised, old and young mix and discussions are held on village life. Once the pub is developed it will be will be gone forever. Since its closure, people are travelling outside the village to socialise and have been split apart. Please list this pub as an Asset of Community Value, so we have the chance to rescue the heart of our village.

  1,206 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Juliette Cockell
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  Save the Somerset Pub in Marston

  There has been a pub on the site of the Somerset since the 1800s. It closed its doors in 2014, and is now the last pub standing in New Marston. A group of local residents are now campaigning to save the pub. The iconic building is one of its kind in the area: a 1930s inter-war public house. Historic England have campaigned to list and protect suburban pubs, which are under threat and closing at a rate of 27 per week. Marston has already lost The Plasterers Arms, The Jack Russell, The Friar, The Cavalier, The Three Horseshoes, The Bricklayers Arms, and The White Hart, which have all been converted to other uses by property developers. We urgently need community spaces as well as housing, and pubs are an important and irreplaceable part of our heritage. If the Somerset is lost there will be no pubs in New Marston - an area of some 4000 residents. Marston is in real need of public spaces for eating, drinking and meeting. Many of us know and love the Somerset, and remember it as a thriving pub. We have come together to lobby local government to recognise the importance of preserving our last pub and to campaign to see it re-opened for community use.

  736 of 800 Signatures

  Created by Susannah Wilson
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  Urgent please help to save The Railway Inn Fourstones

  If you remember in the last petition I outlined that this is the village pub, its been neglected by a succession of owners - I understand the community and others have offered to buy the pub, its a community asset that over 200 people signed this petition last time to keep it. There has been little done to make this into a viable going concern, but the current owner has applied to have it converted into a house. Has anyone really tried to make this pub work by connecting to the needs of the local community or was it never the intent to continue to run this as a pub all all ? Does this sound familiar ? It’s sad that the pub has been closed for such a long time - dont let it end up being closed for good - We need your help to stop this - please log on to Northumberland County Council Planning Website and make your voice heard against new Planning application No: 18/02349/FUL COMMENTS MUST BE MADE BY 30th AUGUST. If Planning is denied and the pub reopens, we need a partnership between the community and the owner in making this work.

  236 of 300 Signatures

  Created by Steve Scrimshaw
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  Stop the demolition of pubs without planning protection

  A historic pub in Kilburn which survived being bombed in the Second World War has been demolished by developers behind the backs of the local community. Developers ripped through the Carlton Tavern on Friday 10th April, despite being considered for statutory listing. Local Cllr Jan Prendergast from Westminster City Council said: “I'm horrified for the local residents that this has occurred. It came as such a shock to everyone. There was no prior warning to the council, no approvals and no proper health and safety procedures in place. “This was a lovely pub and I'm sorry to see it go, but I'm more concerned for the residents in Maida Vale for whom they showed no consideration whatsoever. It was the last building standing in Carlton vale after the WW2 bombings. “I've lived in the area for 35 years and have never seen anything like this before. We need to take very careful legal advice as to what steps we can take.” The demolition of the Carlton Tavern demonstrates how vulnerable communities are to speculative and aggressive development tactics. It also demonstrates a complete disregard towards the historic social infrastructure of Kilburn and the wider UK pub heritage stock. Local pubs are at the heart of our communities and allowing valued pubs such as the Carlton Tavern to be demolished in this way is ludicrous and is denying local residents a say in the future of their neighbourhoods. James Watson, Regional Pub Protection Advisor for the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) said: "Although we welcome the recent changes to planning law which came into effect on 6th April 2015, which afford some protection to ACV-registered pubs, the tragic case of the Carlton Tavern demonstrates just how vulnerable pubs are to rapacious development. We now urge the Government to take this case into consideration and amend planning law to ensure that such demolitions are prohibited unless planning permission is first obtained. This would ensure communities like Kilburn have a say in the future of their local pubs."

  1,699 of 2,000 Signatures

  Created by Faye Grima