Government pulls pub grants

The £3.3m fund was launched earlier this year but will be canned before any payouts are made. The money was intended to help local groups buy and run pubs, and around 80 applications had been made.

Local groups have been quoted in various media reports as being disappointed by the decision, which leaves many plans to buy out pubs in the balance.

Neil Robertson, chairman of the British Institute of Innkeepers, told the Sunday Telegraph: “It’s surprising given that community pubs seem to fit with what we understand the Big Society to be.” The Plunkett Foundation, which was to have administered the grants programme, says it will take steps to help affected communities, including an emergency Co-operative Pubs Summit.

Also canned by the government is around £1m of support for the Pub is the Hub scheme. The money was to have paid for seven full-time advisers to work with pubs on their diversifications.