I have been spending some time recently in pubs—purely in the interests of work you will understand. There have been a number of issues surrounding specific village pubs around Ashford, and their ability to continue to operate, and on top of that there are obviously general issues about the prospects for hospitality businesses.
We have seen many changes in our villages in recent years, and the days when a village could support a street full of shops cafes and pubs are long gone. There is no point looking for someone to blame here. Every time each of us buys something online, or does our food shopping in one convenient supermarket, it means that the small local shop suffers.
Even in this world, many villages can still support a general store, and a pub, and there is no doubt that each of provides not just the commercial services we pay for but also a sense of community, a meeting place which allows everyone to feel that they are not alone. Some benefits cannot be measured by economic statistics.
So I am keen that where pubs have temporarily closed (such as Westwell) they can be reopened as soon as possible, with planners helping this process. There are specific protections in the planning laws for buildings which have been pubs, and these should be used to enable pubs to continue to operate where someone is willing to do so.
But also they need general help. I was taken through the figures at the New Flying Horse in Wye and without a decent package of energy price support they do not add up. The recent freezing of alcohol duties will help, but the practical details of the energy help, which we have not seen yet, need to be absolutely right to help the pubs survive. I will be working on this in the coming weeks.