From the far north of Scotland to the western tip of Cornwall, a quiet revolution is taking place. Britons, no longer prepared to take the closure of a community's essential amenities lying down, are joining forces to take them back into local ownership.
Pubs that had lain empty for several months are being brought back to life by villagers. Stores that closed down after no buyer could be found are reopening as community-owned co-ops. And in some villages they have even got together to reopen their local petrol stations through limited-liability community companies.
Welcome to the fast-expanding world of the not-for-profit community buyout, which in most cases is funded by local people, putting up their own money and taking shares in any profit.
The Plunkett Foundation estimates there are now close to 200 community-owned rural shops in the UK, with four new ventures opening this month alone. The latest, in Feckenham, Worcestershire, will be opened today by the home secretary, Jacqui Smith. Pubs that looked destined never to reopen are being dragged back to life - sold off by struggling pub chains desperate to improve their balance sheets.
The fightback is long overdue. The Rural Shops Alliance said this week that up to 1,000 small stores could close on the back of the Post Office's cull of 2,500 of its offices - this on top of a raft of closures in previous years
The British Beer & Pub Association says the combination of high taxes and low supermarket prices is resulting in 39 pubs closing each week. It says closures are no longer the preserve of rural areas. Most recent failures are taking place in urban or semi-urban areas - in some cases, across the road or next door to the closing post office.
Ironically, the credit crisis is helping community groups buy back local amenities. In the face of falling property prices, landlords, who in the past were reluctant to sell properties, are now accepting reasonable offers.
Planning authorities appear to have woken up to the fact that pubs, stores and even filling stations can play a vital part in community life. They have recently been less likely to allow change-of-use applications allowing owners to cash in on high house prices - particularly when faced by a sustained local campaign. Campaign group the Pub is the Hub says it has seen a "noticeable jump" in enquiries from community groups in recent months. The fight back is just beginning.
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White Hart - Berkshire
A group of villagers have joined forces and bought their local pub to save it from closure.
Enterprise pub the White Hart in Shurlock Row, Berkshire, was at risk of having to shut its doors after Mike Howe, the leaseholder of 33 years, died last year.
Mr Howe’s wife continued to run the pub, but business had been steadily declining. So a group of 17 local investors, led by villager Gordon Hulme, approached the pubco to buy out the current lease and freehold. Each owns shares in the business, and they will run the pub themselves.
The new owners include an airline pilot, a stewardess, a teacher, a bank manager, a graphic designer, a builder, a conference organiser, a scientist and a marketing professional.
Hulme, who will be manager of the pub when it re-opens as the Shurlock Inn in May, said: “We are the last pub in the village. There used to be four, and one closed just four months ago. We didn’t want to see this one go.
“I’m a Canadian and came to this country about 14 years ago. I love the British pub. It’s a tradition. It’s the only country in the world that has it. It would have been criminal to lose a meeting place.”
Hulme said it took nine months to negotiate the sale, as the pub was not actually on the market. The pub is now being refurbished – for the first time in 30 years – to turn it back into a traditional English country inn. It will have a food focus when it re-opens.
A shareholders agreement has been set up, the group receiving advice from a property lawyer from Reading based law firm Blandy & Blandy.
“We all paid for a share of the freehold and we all take a share of the profits,” said Hulme. “We are lucky that our bank and bank manager were very co-operative. From a business point of view, freehold was the only way we could save it. The banks were not interested in leasehold.”
The group qualified for tax incentives under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), which helped them buy the pub. The EIS is designed to help small companies raise finance by offering investors tax reliefs including an exemption from capital gains tax.