One frosty January morning in 2001 I had a brief and unexpected encounter and chat with Prince Charles who was out walking on the Cumbrian fells, near Orthwaite in the Lake District .

I mentioned that about six rural pubs were closing each week. He seemed was genuinely by this statistic and said that he would look into the matter.

Later that year he became involved in the setting up of the Pub is the Hub initiative, which actively encourages breweries, pub owners, licencees and local communities to work together to help retain and enhance rural pubs.

However, the fact remains that over 50% of rural settlements have no public house and this is at a time when there is a move towards building affordable housing in the countryside. This is an unacceptable scenario, as the pub has been at the heart of village life for centuries. A village without a pub is nothing other than a soulless collection of houses.

Entrepreneurs should be actively encouraged to submit plans for new village pubs, but with a proviso that there can be no ‘change of use’ granted at a later date and a stipulation that a public bar area must be provided. The latter would help ensure a new-build pub did not become a restaurant. It would be up to local planning committees to ensure that designs provided an area for social intermixing and that they stayed that way.

Good sensitive architectural design of new pubs is of paramount importance, as nobody wants buildings on a par with some of the atrocious brewery offerings of the 60s and 70s.

If necessary councils should be able to purchase and sell-on land on which to build a public house, with or without the owner’s consent. Huge swathes of rural Britain are owned by big landowners and much of this land is still un-registered, as it has been in the same family ownerships for centuries. If some sites for pubs have to be wrested from the landed gentry, then so be it.

Many country pubs have closed, not because they are unviable but because they are simply worth more converted into housing. With the right operator in place, people will travel many miles to drink and dine in a village pub, bringing much-needed money and jobs into a local community. We all know examples of pubs with high turnover in small hamlets. With new-build ‘fixed useage’ pubs, it would still be survival of the fittest but without the soft option of delicensing and converting into residential accommodation.

I believe that CAMRA should be putting pressure on politicians to introduce legislation to get pubs back into our ‘lost’ villages. It won’t be easy, but anything is possible. Every village should have a pub or two.

Hugh Price
Tynemouth Lodge Hotel