{"id":813,"date":"2020-01-22T20:38:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T20:38:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=813"},"modified":"2020-01-22T20:38:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T20:38:39","slug":"news-views-january-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/01\/22\/news-views-january-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"News & Views – January 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SO WHAT NOW? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nquote Pete Townsend (and cue ARP 400 synthesizer), \u2018Meet\nthe new boss . . . Same as the old boss<\/em>\u2019.\nCAMRA\u2019s National Chairman, Nik Antona, congratulated the Conservatives on their\nelection win and added, \u201cPubs make a significant\ncontribution to our society, culture and economy and we hope the government\nwill act quickly to ensure stability and a thriving future for beer and pubs.\nThis means prioritising reform of the business rates system, consider a lower\nrate of tax on beer served in pubs and taking action to ensure the Pubs Code is\nfit for purpose<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was partly echoed by Emma\nMcClarkin, the new chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association,\nthe trade body representing the pub owning businesses. She told the Morning\nAdvertiser<\/em>, \u201cWith\na clear election result, there is now a new Government in power and our\npriority will be working with them to provide the support our sector needs to\nflourish in 2020. Brexit deadlines will soon be upon the new Government and we hope\nthey will be quick to resolve the need our sector has to retain access to\ntalent post-Brexit. The Conservative Party manifesto included a commitment to\ncut business rates for pubs and a review of alcohol duty to ensure the tax\nsystem is supporting British drink producers. We look forward to working with\nthe new Government to ensure it delivers on much needed support for our sector,\nincluding recognising the 228,000 people who have signed the Long Live the\nLocal petition to cut beer duty. Pubs and beer play a vital role in our lives,\ncommunities and economy. It is imperative the new Government does all it can to\nsupport them<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Queen\u2019s Speech included mention of\nthe reform of business rates, as well as bringing in an additional discount for\npubs and during the election campaign the Prime Minister did say that any new\nGovernment which he led would look into alcohol duties. The Prime Minister\nappears to get on very well with Tim Martin and assuming that this relationship\ngoes beyond \u2018Brexit\u2019, it will be interesting to see what influence Mr Martin\ncan bring, especially over duty and VAT. The politician most associated with a\npint of beer however is probably Nigel Farage who I understand intends to\ntransform his Brexit Party into the Reform Party. It will also be interesting\nto see what he proposes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

PLEDGE FOR PUBS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Readers\nmay remember that CAMRA asked its members to canvass parliamentary candidates\nin their area to see if they supported its \u2018Pledge for Pubs\u2019 which was (1)\ncelebrate and promote great beer, (2) support action to help pubs thrive and\n(3) represent the interests of pub goers, beer and cider drinkers. 2,300 CAMRA\nmembers took part and 508 candidates \u2018took the pledge\u2019. Of these, 48 were\nelected and nine of these represent Greater London constituencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LIFE AFTER LOSING <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nMPs are able to cope with losing their seats better than others. In 2015 Stuart\nDonaldson, at the age of 23 and representing the SNP, became the youngest male\nMP. Alas, he became the youngest ex-MP two years later. Rather than seek\nre-election, he joined the staff of CAMRA where he is now our Senior Campaigns\nManager with overall responsibility for campaigns and public affairs, taking\nthe lead on issues involving Westminster\nand the EBCU. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

COMMUNITY PUBS FUNDING <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\nare several mentions of community pubs in this edition. The Plunkett\nFoundation, in a report entitled A Better\nForm of Business<\/em>, says that the community pub sector\ngrew by 13% in 2018, with 11 new openings, just below the 13 in 2017. At the\nend of 2018 there were a total of 95 community owned pubs, mainly in rural\nareas where the formula works best. They are a lifeline for isolated rural\nlocations where other amenities have been lost. A few community-owned sites\nhave however changed to being privately owned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happily, this growth is set to\ncontinue. Before Christmas it was announced that the Government was to award\n\u00a3650,000 to the Plunkett Foundation to fund their More than a Pub initiative.\nThis will provide grants and advice for new community pub schemes. Similarly,\nthe well established Pub is the Hub organisation is to receive \u00a3500,000, which\nwill go towards helping rural pubs incorporate services such as post offices,\nshops and libraries into their businesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

STONEGATE AND EI <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nCompetition & Markets Authority is close to allowing the \u00a31.27 billion deal\nso long as Stonegate address the issue of a reduction in competition in certain\nareas. Stonegate have identified 42 pubs which they are willing to sell, 15 of\nwhich are in London.\nApparently, potential purchasers for the pubs have already been identified. The\ndeadline for a final decision is 19 February. More in the next edition,\nincluding details of the pubs involved if we have them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

REDBRIDGE LATE NIGHT LEVY <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I reported\nin our October\/November edition that the Borough of Redbridge had deferred a\ndecision on adopting a Late Night Levy. I\u2019m dismayed to report that they have\nnow decided to go ahead. Alan Barker of CAMRA\u2019s South West Essex branch\ncommented, \u201cThese sort of levies are a very blunt\ninstrument to fund local policing of late night disorder. They penalise\nlicensed premises that have been granted opening hours after midnight,\nirrespective of whether or not there is any history of trouble originating from\na particular pub, and whether or not a pub actually uses its late night hours\non a regular basis. Many pubs now stay open after midnight without incident\n(particularly at weekends) and I would suggest that it is mainly those with\nnightclubs that stay open until after (say) 2am that are the focus for disorder,\nrather than community locals. If there needs to be a levy, it should only be\npaid by those premises that have a history of trouble recorded by the police.\nHaving a fixed closing time of midnight to avoid the Late Night Levy will tend\nto result in most of those pubs (that don\u2019t have nightclubs, but do close after\nmidnight) cutting back their (currently staggered) closing times so that\neveryone leaves the pubs at the same time, putting pressure on late night food\noutlets and public transport, which may have the unintended consequence of\ncreating a new source of disorder, as people compete with each other for these\nlimited resources<\/em>.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ON YOUR RADIO\u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 December edition\nof BBC Radio Four\u2019s \u2018In Business<\/em>\u2019 programme featured micropubs, starting at the Long Pond in\nEltham. I doubt if there was much that readers of this magazine would have\nlearned but it was good in itself that the subject was covered. The programme\nstressed the prominence of local real ale in micropubs and the contrasting\nproblems with pub owning businesses and the tie. The other micropub visited was\nin Preston where two female customers\nexplained that they visited regularly because they found the pub \u2018female\nfriendly\u2019 but would not visit any other local pubs. The programme also covered\nthe community buy-out of threatened pubs. It was reassuring to hear the\nrepresentative from the Plunkett Foundation say that there had been no failures\nin the community pubs that they had helped to set up. CAMRA did get a mention\nbut it wasn\u2019t exactly flattering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE LONDON PLAN <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The London Plan is the\nMayor of London\u2019s strategic plan, setting out an economic, environmental,\ntransport and social framework for development. CAMRA\u2019s London Region has\ncontributed to its substantial revision in respect of planning policy and\npractice relating to the preservation of pubs. It is understood that Policy HC7\n(Protecting Public Houses) has been adopted and that the new London Plan will\nbe published in time for the next edition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FLIPPING\nHECK! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I find beer\nmat flipping an annoying habit, especially when it leads to my pint being\nknocked into my lap. I must however be in the minority because it is popular\nenough to warrant the launch of the first ever beer mat flipping world\nchampionships. It will be held on 8 February at the Ship and Shovel, Warsash Road,\nWarsash, near Southampton, SO31 9HX, from 4pm to 9pm. There will\nbe two separate competitions: \u2018Master Flip\u2019, which is for the highest number of\nbeer mats in a single flip and \u2018Speed Flip\u2019 which is the fastest flipping of\nten beer mats one after the other. It is open to everyone and entry costs \u00a310\nfor adults and \u00a35 for under 18s. The proceeds will go towards the pub\u2019s\n\u2018Community Pot\u2019 which funds local charities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OOPS! MISSED\u2026\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apologies but I found\nout too late to alert you that 12 December was National Lager Day. I recall\nthat there was however something else happening that day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compiled by Tony\nHedger <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can keep up to date with these and other stories via the Twitter feed on the regional website http:\/\/london.camra.org.uk<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SO WHAT NOW? To quote Pete Townsend (and cue ARP 400 synthesizer), \u2018Meet the new boss . . . Same as the old boss\u2019. CAMRA\u2019s National Chairman, Nik Antona, congratulated… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":815,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813\/revisions\/815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}