Asset of Community Value - a lifeline for threatened UK pubs

A good local should be much more than a place where people go for a drink (alcoholic or one of the very wide range of non-alcoholic options available these days).

A pub provides an informal meeting space that’s instantly available for local people. It might also host pub games, sports clubs, live music events, quizzes, comedy nights, charity fundraising, book clubs, numerous local societies and countless other community uses — as well as often providing an excellent place to eat.

No wonder that it’s a well-known truism among estate agents that access to a good local pub can add as much as 10 per cent on to the value of surrounding houses.

So why is it that the Bucks Free Press often carry stories about well-loved and cherished pubs that are under threat of closure and conversion to private housing (or other uses) which will lead to them being lost to the local community forever?

More importantly, what can be done about it?

Covid lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis have battered the hospitality industry and left even well-run pubs operating on tiny profit margins.

Hopefully these pressures will be short-term. Pubs that have survived hundreds of years shouldn’t be wiped out by transient economic factors or temporarily poor management.

One way for local communities to protect their treasured local pub is to apply to list it as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) with the local authority.

Under the Localism Act 2011, once a pub is listed as an ACV it cannot be sold quickly and without the knowledge of the local community.

If a pub is put up for sale then the local community is given a statutory opportunity to make a bid to purchase the pub on behalf of the community — and time to raise the funds to do so.

This does not apply if the pub is sold as a continuing business (a going concern): the legislation only applies to sales which would deprive the community of an asset.

There is no obligation on the seller to accept the community’s bid but it does prevent quick sales to property speculators of which the community would often be unaware.

Applications to list a pub (or other community facility) can be made by either parish councils or groups of twenty-one of more local individuals.

CAMRA can assist with the ACV application process see https://camra.org.uk/campaign_resources/saving-your-local-pub/. The application is then assessed by the local authority. Successful applications are then listed on the ACV register for five years, after which they must be renewed.

Following CAMRA campaigning, around five years ago, Buckinghamshire Council had well over a hundred pubs on its ACV register but the vast majority of these are no longer listed.

Often a pub’s ACV listing had expired without the local community being made aware.

Some communities did try to renew their pub’s ACV listing only to have it rejected by Buckinghamshire Council, despite neither the legislation nor the community importance of the pub having changed in the meantime.

Readers who value their local pubs might wish to ask their local councillors about how this state of affairs has come about.

The council has approved very few new applications recently although rare cases, such as the Dereham’s Inn in Loudwater, have been accepted after vociferous local campaigning.

By demonstrating that the local community has taken action to make clear the value of the local pub to the community, ACV listing also protects pubs when local planning departments assess applications for change of use from a pub to private housing.

ACV listing deters property speculators, who try and argue the pub is not a community asset. This is much harder if the pub is on a register of exactly that type of asset.

Many pubs in Buckinghamshire have been bought by their local communities following the introduction of this legislation.

In the village of Oakley, the local parish council even bought their local village pub itself, the Chandos Arms.

Pubs such as the Seven Stars in Dinton, the George and Dragon in Quainton and the Russell Arms in Butler’s Cross have all been bought by local communities — and continue to thrive.

Even if you think your local pub is not vulnerable to closure, be warned. ACV applications cannot be made retrospectively.

The pub trade is notoriously volatile and a pub that is trading well one year may well go into rapid decline the next – because of change of licensee or other circumstances.

There are, sadly, many examples of former CAMRA Pubs of the Year that are no longer pubs. ACV registration is therefore a 'belt and braces' exercise to guard against any unforeseen developments.

As an example, a quaint thatched pub with a sizeable plot of land attached might sell for under half a million pounds as a pub. If a speculator gets permission to convert it into a chocolate box cottage — and possibly build a few more houses in the old pub garden or car park — the ex-pub is suddenly worth several million pounds.

It’s far better odds than the National Lottery: buy a pub, close it down, sell it for several times what you paid for it, become a multi-millionaire and do not pass “Go”.

The only obstacle to this instant enrichment and loss of a local business and community facility is the local council’s planning department who must give planning permission for a “change of use” to residential property (or any other non-pub use).

Given the number of pubs that have been closed and converted to other uses in the local area in recent years this doesn’t seem to be a hugely high bar, especially for pubs in towns when (theoretically) alternative pub facilities are deemed to be available “locally”.

ACVs aren’t a magic bullet solution for the problems currently faced by our cherished pubs. The pub owner still has a right to sell to whoever they choose, albeit once the local community have exercised a right to bid.

Nevertheless, they are a vital tool in the campaign to preserve the traditional local.

Many communities have found out that they would have benefited from the ACV when it was already too late.

Why not investigate this protection for your local before it’s too late.