Call to save pubs from supermarkets

The Government has been accused of letting communities down by allowing pubs to be converted into supermarkets without planning permission.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said that with 31 pubs closing every week, more needs to be done to offer them protection.

The group reported that around 600 pubs are now listed as so-called assets of community value in England, under which people have a chance to bid for a pub if the owner plans to sell.

But Camra said the scheme was being undermined by pubs being converted into supermarkets or other retail uses without the need for a planning application.

Camra spokesman Tom Stainer said evidence earlier this year revealed that two pubs a week were converted into supermarket convenience stores.

"The fact pubs are the most listed community asset shows just how much people value their local pub.

"It is therefore hugely disappointing that the Government won't act to close planning loopholes which allow developers to convert pubs to other uses without the requirement for planning permission.

"Planning permission is required to convert a convenience store into a pub but no permission is required to convert a pub into a convenience store. The lack of protection for pubs is a glaring anomaly in the English planning system which needs to be corrected.

"It is surely not right that a supermarket convenience store is given greater planning protection than a valued community pub," he said.

Community Pubs Minister Kris Hopkins said: "Local pubs are part of the social and cultural fabric of this nation and this Government is determined to protect them. That is why we have already abolished the unpopular beer and alcohol duty escalators, cut business taxes for pubs and armed communities with the right to protect their treasured local from closure by listing it as a community asset.

"This Government is committed to supporting valued community pubs, whilst avoiding heavy-headed regulation which would do more harm than good by leading to boarded up, empty buildings."

Read more:

Pub landlord 'ties' to be tackled

Could you run your own pub?

Cheers! Penny off a pint of beer