Community Pubs Minister Andrew Percy has pledged an extra £50,000 from the Government to Pub is The Hub’s Community Services Fund to support community services and activities in pubs such as libraries and post offices to IT training and dementia friendly lunch clubs.
He has also written to the major players in the pubs and drinks industry, calling for their support to boost Pub is The Hub’s successful project work with village locals up and down the country.
Andrew Percy said today: “Pub is The Hubs’ work with good licensees has proved a lifeline for many isolated rural communities, helping people to access essential services and activities in the familiar setting of their local. We want our rural pubs to thrive, not only as vital social spaces, but also offer a range of much needed important local facilities.
“That’s why we’re putting £50,000 behind the bar for the Community Services Fund and why I’m calling on the industry to further help pubs to do what they do best, bringing whole communities together.”
John Longden, the Chief Executive of Pub is The Hub responded by saying: “The great thing we have discovered about the Community Services Fund is that it provides the impetus to get a pub diversification scheme off the ground with relatively small amounts of funding – from just £500 to £3,000 – leveraging further public and private investment This announcement is therefore extremely welcome for the fifty or more projects that we have in the pipeline awaiting funding.
“Monetary support like this goes straight back to good, hard-working pub licensees who step in to take on essential local services that have sadly disappeared or are now needed in today’s hard-to-reach sectors of the community. Where better to find them than in a warm, welcoming and accessible environment – the British pub?”
The Government has supported Pub is The Hub with £320,000 of funding since 2012.