Focus
A success story from The Pub is the Hub initiative
7th April 2008
The Prince of Wales’s Pub is the Hub initiative was set up in 2001 by His Royal Highness to regenerate rural villages by helping local pubs become the central core, or “hub”, of the community.
Founded as part of the Rural Action Programme of Business in the Community, the initiative encourages breweries, pub owners, licensees and local communities to work together to help retain and enhance rural pubs by finding additional uses for them, thereby improving viability.
The pub is offered advice about how to become more profitable through a variety of measures: better provision of food and drink, additional retail uses (a shop or post office), and the addition of new facilities such as a pharmacy collection point, local pensioner meal support, church services, dry cleaning and laundry collection and deposit services, crèche facilities, an art gallery and a shop for locally sourced products.
Pub is the Hub has had considerable success and already helped to regenerate 300 pubs across the United Kingdom.
In March 2008, The Prince of Wales visited one such pub in Cumbria and invited Environment Minister The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP to see the success of the initiative first-hand.
Success story - The Black Swan in Ravenstonedale, Cumbria
The picturesque Black Swan pub in Ravenstonedale, Cumbria has become an integral part of the village community since it was taken over in July 2006 by Alan and Louise Dinnes.
After many years of decline the new owners set about restoring the building and developing the business, which includes a hotel, restaurant and public house, with an investment of £150,000.
A ground-floor bedroom was converted into a village shop, and the pub began to hold community and fundraising events.
The business now provides valuable local employment for 3 full-time and 9 part-time staff, and it has always been the aim of the owners to provide as many services as possible and to act as a community hub.
The parish of Ravenstonedale has 570 residents, and 107 people are aged 65 and over (Source: 2001 Census).
The final grocer shop closed some 7 years ago, and the nearest shops are at Kirkby Stephen (4 miles) and Tebay (6 miles). This means that local residents, particularly the elderly, infirm, and those with no transport have to travel to Kirkby Stephen for the most basic of groceries.
A survey by Mr and Mrs Dinnes found that having a local shop, rather than one that was four miles away, saved 2,000 miles of travelling for residents per week and improving the quality of life for locals.
As much produce as possible is sourced from local suppliers, supporting local farmers and cutting back on food miles.
The next step for the Black Swan is to try and open a Post Office.
Click here to read the story.
Click here to visit the Pub is the Hub website.