24-May-2007 Morning Advertiser - Prince backs plans to save welsh pubs
Prince Charles has upped his support for the industry by inviting top executives to his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire to talk about how pubs in Wales can be saved.
The Prince ofWales chaired a seminar in which his Pub is the Hub organisation revealed it was drawing up a list of pubs in Wales that would benefit from the aid schemes it is able to offer. The Welsh Assembly has already asked Pub is the Hub to help devise a new Rural Pub & Services Strategy for pubs under threat of closure.
The moves underline growing concern for the future of rural pubs in Wales that is expected to be compounded by the smoking ban, which began there on 2 April.
Pub is the Hub director John Longden said more requests for help come from pubs in Wales than anywhere else in the the UK. "We hope to identify those pubs which would qualify under the scheme and might benefit their local community by developing initiatives using Pub is the Hub expertise," he said.
Many of the schemes encourage pub licensees to diversify their business into new areas such as post office services, village shops and internet facilities.,
"Our ideas centre on encouraging licensees to take on services that are now being lost in rural villages and communities; these in turn make pubs more viable businesses," he added.
Operators represented at the seminar included Brains, Robinsons, Enterprise Inns, Punch, Admiral Taverns, Felin-foel and Thwaites. These companies own more than one third of all the pubs in Wales.
"All the brewers and pub companies in Wales have formed a partnership, which it's hoped will eventually help scores of rural pubs improve their viability.
"The seminar was chaired by the Prince himself, which again demonstrated his interest in the plight of rural communities and that he is not content merely to play a figurehead role," Longden said.
Prince backs plans to save welsh pubs..pdf