Pub groups and drinks companies are to step up their involvement in a
UK initiative that encourages rural pubs to strengthen local
communities by offering post office, grocery and even laundry services.
Diageo, Enterprise Inns, Punch Taverns and Scottish & Newcastle
will provide financial support for the Pub is the Hub project – and
have volunteered help to start and run regional advisory groups in
Yorkshire, the East Midlands and north-west England.
The companies will be represented in the groups alongside villagers,
the Post Office and regional development agencies charged by the
government with aiding regeneration in regions of the UK.
‘The idea is for the groups to come up with strategies to support rural
business in these areas,’ said John Longden, who heads Pub is the Hub.
‘We’ve managed to get into a unique position where the pub industry and
its suppliers will be sitting down to talk with regional development
agencies and representatives of local communities to see what can be
done to improve economic activity. If the regional groups work, we will
set up others around the country.’
The companies will help with Pub is the Hub’s £300,000-a-year
($525,000) administrative costs as well as providing time and
expertise. They will also be involved in longer-term proposals to start
similar groups in cities and towns – and believe the model could
be useful not just in rural areas but also on service-starved urban
housing estates.
Longden said pub chains, initially sceptical, were now integrated and
similar benefits could be reaped in urban areas. Thanks to the project
– which was set up by the Prince of Wales and Business in the Community
and operates as a separate entity – 200 pubs in the UK currently have
post offices, 150 run shops and 30 are training farmers and job-seekers
to use computers. Others offer gyms, creches, betting offices and even
religious services.
Longden said helping villages that have lost services increases the
pubs’ income and viability, which has knock-on business benefits for
the pub groups and drinks companies.
Between them, Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns own and manage more
than 16,000 pubs. Scottish & Newcastle, one of the UK’s biggest
brewers, produces beers such as John Smith and Courage, while Diageo’s
brands include Guinness and Smirnoff.
Geoffrey Bush, director of corporate citizenship at Diageo, told EP his
company’s participation ‘fits with our community involvement focus,
which tries to combine financial and human resources to help create
positive and long-term change’. Helping to widen the income of pubs and
support the rural economy contributed to Diageo’s long-term
sustainability.
Longden said the involvement of drinks companies was needed. ‘Demand
for help from pubs in rural areas has far exceeded our capacity, with
more than 60 individual requests a week, so this new development will
mean much more can be achieved.’ Pub is the Hub is also backed by the
British Institute of Innkeeping and the Countryside Agency.
