MPs join fight to save threatened pubs

January 3, 2006: The All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group is stepping in to try to help save the UK's threatened community pubs - an average of 26 a month are closing.

The group - formed in 1993 - includes well-known figures such as a recent Conservative party leadership candidate Kenneth Clarke and Baroness Dean (the former print union president and general secretary Brenda Dean).

It exists, according to Parliament, to "promote the wholesomeness and enjoyment of beer and the unique role of the pub in UK society; to increase understanding of the social, cultural and historic role of brewing and pubs in the UK, and their value to tourism; to broaden recognition of the contribution of brewing and pubs to employment and to the UK's economy; to promote understanding of the social responsibility exercised by the brewing and pub industries; to support the UK's brewing industry worldwide, and to promote a positive future for beer and the pub."

The group has set up a panel to look into the closures, which will be chaired by vice-chairman and Conservative member for Ribble Valley, Nigel Evans.

It aims to report with a set of recommendations in June.

The move has been inspired by the work of the the Pub is the Hub initiative, which aims to make pubs a focus of community life, and the work of CAMRA, which last year established its own Community Pubs Foundation.