ACVs are badge of honour to protect pubs says CAMRA chief executive Tim Page

by Tim Page, chief executive, Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)

Most licensees will have heard of Asset of Community Value or ACV but may not fully understand the implications of having their pub listed. I would like to set out very clearly what ACV status is, how it benefits those looking to run a successful pub, and to tackle a few of the misconceptions which seem to surround the legislation that provides pub-goers with the opportunity to award their local with this "badge of honour".

First of all, ACV status doesn’t in any way affect a pub being sold as a going concern. So if the owner, whether an individual, a pub company or a brewery wants to sell their pub as a business, with the intention of it remaining a pub, then ACV status does nothing to stop that happening.

What ACV status does do is protect pubs from being converted or demolished without planning permission. So if an ACV pub is not being sold as a going concern (i.e. to remain a pub), or if the owner plans to demolish it, then the local community has six weeks to express an interest in buying it. If it does that, it then has up to six months to put a bid together. It’s really that simple.

ACV status can only ever delay the sale of a pub by a maximum of six months, under the specific criteria outlined above, and only then if the community decides it would like to purchase it and put together a bid. The bottom line is that if drinkers want their pub to remain a pub, then applying for it to be awarded ACV status is a prudent course of action – whether it appears to be under threat or not.

What’s more, ACV status gives communities a way of saying ‘we care what happens to this pub in the future’, which is why CAMRA launched the "This Pub Matters" window stickers in conjunction with the Pubs Minister Marcus Jones and the Department for Communities and Local Government. The Campaign celebrates ACV status as a "badge of honour" and is designed to raise the profile of the ACV initiative with pubgoers.  

It is also crystal clear that the vast majority of licensees think being listed as an ACV benefits their business. When CAMRA surveyed every one of the UK’s ACV listed pubs in July this year more than 85% of the respondents told us that the status benefitted their pub, with the same percentage saying their customers valued the pub being listed.

So I say this to licensees running a pub that has been given ACV status: be proud of it, wear it as a badge of honour.  To those whose regulars are currently applying for their local to be listed:  embrace it with both arms. Gaining ACV status means your pub is truly valued by your local community. What could be better than that?

*First published in Publican's Morning Advertiser, 15 October 2015