Two North East pubs praised for playing community role

The Crown and Anchor offers a village shop, a gardening club and takeaway

Two North East pubs have been praised by the government for the role they play in the community.

The Crown and Anchor Pub in Horsley, Northumberland, and the Bridge Inn, in Whorlton, near Barnard Castle, both run a village shop.

They also provide other services helpful towards the community and have been recognised by the Department of Communities and Local Government.

It comes as the government pledged more cash to help struggling community pubs.

Pubs Minister John Healey has announced a 12 point action plan backed by £4m government funding.

Eggs and stamps

At the Crown and Anchor Pub in Horsley there is a village shop, a gardening club, takeaway and delivery service.

The Bridge Inn provides bread, milk, eggs and stamps to villagers, since the closure of the post office several months ago. It saves villagers a three mile trip to the next nearest store in Barnard Castle.

Nearly 40 pubs close each week, resulting in job losses and millions of pounds lost to the economy, the government said.

It plans to provide £3.3m to the industry to help pubs become more successful and help communities buy into struggling pubs to keep them running.

Support has also been pledged to help membership clubs while councils will be given new powers through planning to intervene on restrictive sales and demolitions.

New planning laws would also allow pubs to branch out their business without planning permission into new commercial ventures, ranging from restaurants to gift shops and books shops, without seeking approval from the council.

The measures would also give landlords the opportunity to have direct access to specialist, tailored business advice through 'Pub is the Hub', currently a voluntary support service for community pubs.

The Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) said in a statement it "warmly welcomed" the government proposals.