Property prices put pressure on pubs

Soaring property prices are posing a new threat to village community pubs, according to BBC's The One Show in a special investigation into the escalating closure rate of rural hostelries.

An estimated four million viewers heard how

developers are buying up pubs worth more in bricks and mortar than their value as a licensed trade business.

The programme featured the long-running battle fought by villagers in Ben Rhydding, West Yorkshire, who have successfully halted plans to convert their local pub, the Wheatley, into luxury flats. Campaigners waged a four-year fight to stop owners Punch selling the property, which ended with a planning inquiry refusing change-of-use consent for the building.

Also featured was the Black Swan at Wistow, Selby, South Yorkshire, one of 100 pubs nationwide which now provides post-office facilities, mainly through schemes supported by rural regeneration group Pub Is The Hub. Group director John Longden was interviewed live to explain how Pub Is The Hub is helping pubs stave off closure by diversifying into new revenue streams.

Longden said the programme had given valuable publicity to the plight of rural village pubs. "Many people now view the countryside as an attractive place to live and prices are soaring.

"There is also new pressure to provide affordable housing in rural communities and selling a pub for an inflated price can almost be viewed today as a reward for failure," Longden said. Besides 100 pubs incorporating post offices, more than 90 now house village shops.

The Hub's latest success story has come in the East Midlands where 15 schemes have been completed over the past year. Nine pubs

in the region have opened shops in the past six months, thanks to funding provided by the East Midlands Development Agency.