Funds are being made available for the redevelopment of disused pubs as part of the Government’s programme to revitalise high streets. Historic England will receive £44 million to develop ‘high streets’ heritage action zones’, the Architectural Heritage Fund will receive £15 million to make disused pubs available to social enterprise organisations and the National Lottery Heritage Fund will spend £3 million on a cultural outreach project to engage communities in the history of their high streets.
The Historic England project will also include such buildings as former theatres and libraries as well as pubs. Inevitably, some pubs are going to be converted to offices or housing. Tom Stainer, CAMRA’s chief executive, told the Morning Advertiser that it was important pubs were kept as pubs when considered by the schemes, “We are delighted to see greater Government support allocated to our high streets. Pubs play a vital role in boosting trade and keeping high streets thriving and we would like to see them benefit from this funding as well. Most importantly, we would like to see measures to ensure the funding is used to bring pubs back to life rather than converted to another use. Pubs play an incredibly important role in our nation’s heritage and make up the very fabric of our nation’s history. Their ongoing preservation and protection is key to any initiative to support historic high streets.”
In a not dissimilar move, the Plunkett Foundation is relaunching its ‘More Than a Pub’ programme. This will make a further £2.2 million available to communities seeking control of their local pubs. The funding comes from Power to Change and builds on the success of the original programme which helped 28 community-owned pubs open between 2016 and 2019. The programmes aims to offer a flexible range of support services to community groups, including an advice line, events, training, workshops, peer-to-peer study visits and business development advice.
Power to Change’s chief executive, Vidhya Alakeson, commented, “Pubs are often the last hub in their community. They are important places where people come together and they provide a diversity of services, including lunch clubs for vulnerable people, training and development, gardening and cooking classes and parenting groups.” The Plunkett Foundation’s executive director, James Alcock, added, “For many communities, pubs are not just a place to drink; they are central to people’s sense of place and identity, they provide an important place for people to meet and help to build community cohesion.
Tony Hedger