The local pub was once the cornerstone of British society – a place to meet friends, relax after a hard day at the office and have a couple of drinks at the weekend. Now, however, thanks to rising taxes and a squeeze on consumer spending, public houses seem at risk of disappearing entirely as increasing numbers can no longer afford to remain operational.
Yet the Campaign for Real Ale has released a report this week indicating that a lack of funds is no longer the greatest risk facing the bar and leisure industry any longer. Rather, it is the relentless expansion of supermarket chains that are converting once beloved watering holes into the smaller convenience stores that currently seem most popular with consumers.
According to the report, in the last two years alone more than 200 pubs nationwide have been bought by large supermarket chains and turned into small scale stores, such as Tesco Express. This, CAMRA argues, is due to a change in planning laws which give supermarkets and developers greater ease in changing the nature of public houses. Loopholes in the laws surrounding the use of commercial properties mean that, in towns where supermarket chains take over an out of use or vacant public house, residents struggle to have their voices heard when trying to keep the nature of the property unchanged.
As a result, an ever increasing number of local pubs have been changed into convenience stores without having been replaced – something which CAMRA believes is ripping the heart out of small communities. This is why the real ale campaigning body is calling upon the Government to make alterations to planning laws before the traditional British pub scene is destroyed irredeemably.
Mike Benner, chief executive of CAMRA, says; “Weak and misguided planning laws and the predatory acquisition of valued pub sites by large supermarket chains, coupled with the willingness of pub owners to cash in and sell for development, are some of the biggest threats to the future of Britain’s social fabric.
“For years, large supermarket chains have shown a disregard for the wellbeing of local communities, gutting much loved former pubs in areas already bursting with supermarket stores. Pubs are being targeted for development by supermarket chains due to non-existent planning controls allowing supermarkets to ride roughshod over the wishes of the local community.
“At a time when 18 pubs are closing every week, this is damaging a great British institution.”
It certainly seems that supermarket brands in the UK are beginning to run rampant over the leisure industry, especially in the case of market leading supermarket giant Tesco. Since January 2010, Tesco has opened an astonishing 130 convenience stores on the sites of former local public houses.
However, the largest UK chain is by no means the sole villain of the piece, as Sainsbury’s has also taken over 22 pubs in order to turn them into convenience stores. A further 54 former public houses have been taken over by a number of popular brands such as Asda, Costcutter and The Co-Operative.
At present, the future of 45 public houses is hanging in the balance in the UK as developers decide whether to convert them into yet more supermarket convenience stores.
Labour MP John Denham represents Southampton Itchen, one of the areas in the UK where the closure of public houses to be replaced with convenience stores has been most prevalent.
He says; “Residents across the country are feeling powerless to intervene as local community pubs are being turned into convenience stores.
“The Government needs to wake up to this looming crisis in the pub industry and look not only at planning laws that allow pubs to be converted so easily, but also at the cosy relationship between national retailers and large pub companies that so often leave local communities feeling left out in the cold.”
Communities are now faced with an uphill struggle to save their local public houses, especially if they are independently run as opposed to being part of a chain such as Whitbread or JD Wetherspoons. In fact, this task will be so tough that CAMRA believes the only way to truly combat supermarket takeovers is for the Government to make alterations to the planning laws once and for all.
Mr Benner concludes; “Unless action is taken by the Government to address obvious loopholes in planning legislation, more local communities will be forced to give up their local pub without a fight, and seeing the pub signs of Red Lions and Royal Oaks being corporately graffitied over by supermarket empires will become an all too common sight.”
Do you think it is up to the Government to intervene in this situation, or should local communities be doing more to save their local pub scene? Are supermarket chains becoming too powerful in the UK, or is a little competition between rivals a healthy aspect of the retail industry in this country?
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