Pubs need help to survive the rural decline as well
Initiatives intended to regenerate the rural economy are very laudable, says David Best, but the pub sector is being left out - and left behind.
As part of his initiative to halt rural decline, the Prince of Wales has launched Business in the Community's Rural Action programme, a call to battle for all those who care about the plight of 90% of the landmass of the realm and those whose livelihoods depend on its wellbeing.
In an article he penned in July for The Times, Prince Charles asserted that, even before the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, farm employment and agricultural returns were at their lowest since the 1930s.
Average farm incomes, he went on to reveal, now stand at £5,200 per farm, while rural pubs have been closing at the rate of six a week and the number of smaller local and village shops is declining apace, with more than 40% of parishes having no permanent shop of any kind and 43% no post office.
He is, of course, absolutely correct, but whereas average farm incomes stand at £5,200 per farm, the vast majority of rural publicans are lucky even to make ends meet, hence the closure rate of six per week. Pubs, you see, do not attract grants, quotas, set-aside payments or compensation.
The Rural Action programme invites practical action in four key areas: first, to encourage businesses and the community to buy their food locally; second, by making "the pub the hub", licensees would be encouraged to diversify and include shops and post offices as part of their service; third, the revival of market towns; and fourth, encouraging business leaders to support community entrepreneurs.
These are very laudable aims which, were it not for the fact that the licensed trade is trapped in its own immediate history, would be achievable. But, as things stand, before "the pub" can once more become "the hub", there are a number of critical areas which need to be recognised, acknowledged and addressed before the journey back to the future can even begin:
As the duty on a pint of beer in France is about 5p, compared with 33p in the UK, the fall in on-trade sales and the subsequent decline in the number of pubs is hardly a mystery. It is, in fact, proof of the Treaty of Rome's prediction that significant difference in duty rates would prevent the single market from functioning properly.
Disparate rates of duty have led to smuggling on a scale never before seen, causing massive losses in revenue and dwindling pub takings nationwide.
Nearly 50% of pubs are tenanted or leased houses with rent levels that result in bankruptcy on a daily basis.
Most lease agreements are unfairly biased in favour of the lessor - lessees are being made to pay more and more for less and less.
Pub estate operators have been allowed to develop their business affairs without restriction, resulting in a philosophy which admits responsibility only to the board and shareholders. As a result, leaseholding licensees are seen merely as a means to meet targets and, like soldiers in the trenches, they are expendable.
Local authorities have jumped on the bandwagon too, with the result that rates have also spiralled, putting yet another burden on licensees.
I applaud Prince Charles for his initiative, and support his efforts wholeheartedly, but experience tells me that, with the licensed trade being split, as it is, down the middle, with the "haves" on the one hand and the "have nots" on the other, the radical reforms necessary to achieve a change of such magnitude are unlikely to be instigated.
It is unlikely, for instance, that the chancellor will alter his stance on rates of duty, which in turn will ensure the continuing decline in the number of rural and local pubs. But even if he did, and even if the expected decrease in the amount of contraband goods was to reverse the decline in on-trade sales, rates and rents would be increased yet again as local authorities and pub companies scrambled to take their cut.
It is equally unlikely that the pubcos would allow new businesses to be conducted on their premises without imposing swingeing rent increases. The same would apply to rating authorities.
The only exceptions to this gloomy prophecy would be those rural pubs in prime locations that are owned, branded and managed in increasing numbers by the pubcos themselves. The pubcos, of course, would bask in the publicity but, as the majority of rural pubs do not occupy prime locations, the decline is sure to continue.
David Best is a former publican of the Bushell's Arms in Preston, Lancashire
