The pub is the hub for Britain's communities
The co-operative pub is well and truly open for business. While conventional pubs close at a rate of one every four days, there are more of the community owned kind than ever before.
Over the last two years, the rise of the co-op pub has been phenomenal. The 21st of the current crop, the Rose and Crown in Slayley, Northumberland, opened its doors on 2 August. And there are more waiting in the wings.
In Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, the Fox and Goose is approaching its fundraising target, as is the Anglers Rest in Bamford, Derbyshire, which is one of the busiest parts of the Peak District National Park. The Ivy House, Nunhead, is preparing to open as the London's first community-owned pub, and the first registered as an asset to the community under the 'community right to bid' element of the Localism Act.
The local community has raised £850,000 to reopen the Ivy House. Along with the Bell Inn in Bath, the UK's 20th co-op pub, which raised over £780,000 through its share issue, it represents a new scale of community investment in large, high value, city centre pubs.
Dave Hollings, Director of Co-operative Mutual Solutions, who advised nine out of the current 21 pub co-ops, says the idea really caught on in mid-2011. "From 2003 to 2009 not much happened, but a number of factors came together in 2009-11 which made a difference," he says. "The financial crisis made it harder for individuals to buy pubs from under the nose of communities, and there was increased interest in alternative business models and increased experience of community share issues.
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