Community pubs to get campaign boost
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) plans a week of action next February to save community pubs.
The aim of CAMRA's first Community Pubs Week is to raise the profile of community pubs and encourage people from all walks of life to support their local.
It is in response to CAMRA figures that show 26 pubs are lost in Britain every month.
Licensees will be asked to hold events for their local communities during the event, which runs from 17 to 24 February.
CAMRA will provide promotional beer mats, posters and advice sheets for pubs that want to take part.
All soaps on TV have community pubs but sadly many real communities are in danger of, or have already lost theirsCAMRA chief executive Mike Benner
CAMRA said Community Pubs Week replaces National Pubs Week, which ran for four years, because "community pubs are under particularly severe threat".
CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner said: "All soaps on TV and radio have community pubs - The Bull, The Rovers Return, The Queen Vic, The Woolpack - but sadly many real communities in rural and urban areas are in danger of losing or have already lost their community pub.
"Community pubs, particularly those in more remote rural areas, are often the hub of the lives of the local people. None of us want to be in a situation where the only way we speak with our neighbours is through a car window or a stolen conversation at a supermarket many miles away. However an increasing number of these pubs are being permanently lost.
"The smoking ban in place or coming into force shortly in different parts of the UK means pubs face a difficult time in 2007. People need to realise that their local is a valuable asset that must be protected.
"We know people care about their communities as, in a terrific show of support, four million people recently signed a petition calling for the Government to do more to save rural post offices.
"The threat to the community pub is extremely dire and unless we do something to curb the trend CAMRA fears many communities will find their local pub torn from them."
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