The Importance of Saving Local Pubs

November 17, 2023 - Reading time: 3 minutes

Part Of A Community History

Preserving the legacy of a local pub is more than a nostalgic endeavor; it's about honouring our community's history and tradition. The New Clarence Community Pub was originally four seperate buildings but it has been a single building for over a century. From 1914 to 1968 the building was used as a Co-operative grocery store and from 1975 to 1983 it was a Co-operative meeting Hall.  It was in the 80s that it was converted to a pub to replace the original Clarence across the road. So, although not always a pub, the building that houses the New Clarence has served the public in one way or another for generations.

The Threat to Traditional Pubs

Over recent years many local pubs have closed, in Hull and beyond, due to changing economic circumstances. According to the Office for National Statistics, we lost 23% of our pubs between 2008 and 2018. Many of these were smaller, local pubs, closed down as the big corporate owners remodelled their estates with fewer, larger, (more profitable?) establishments. It feels at the moment as if the same is happening again. The loss of these social hubs means losing places that bring communities together, impacting community cohesion, social interaction, and the overall well-being of both the community and the individuals that make up that community. As ever some will feel the loss more than others - but why should anybody have to feel any loss?

Community Ownership - for the long term

Community ownership of The New Clarence will position it to ride out the vagaries of a sometimes volatile economy. Of the 350 or so community pubs already established in the UK, a handful have been brought back into private ownership, but none - not one - has closed. The combination of a healthier financial model and a core of customers with a genuine interest and sense of ownership of their shared space transforms a pub's chance of survival and development.

Your Chance to Contribute

You can help us to create Hull's first community owned and managed pub simply by firstly taking a couple of minutes to join the conversation about what it could be.