‘A Better Form of Business’ report launch, 2021
On Monday 10 October, two of our management committee accepted the invitation from The Plunkett Foundation to attend the House of Lords for the launch of A Better Form of Business, their annual report to the community pub sector.
This report, which presented the findings of the foundation’s research in to the community pub sector in the difficult market conditions in 2021, provided valuable insights into the performance of the sector.
Key findings of the report:
- The community pub sector grew by 11% with 15 new community pubs opening during the year.
- There were 146 known community pubs trading across the UK at the end of 2021.
- The number of enquiries to Plunkett Foundation from communities exploring community ownership continues to increase with 148 new enquiries in 2021.
- No community pubs ceased trading in 2021 despite the challenges of the pandemic. The overall success rate of community pubs remains high at over 99%.
The success of the community owned pub sector contrasts sharply with the declining performance of commercially run enterprises during 2021.
Our committee members took the opportunity to engage with other community pubs attending the event and gained further insight in to what makes these pubs so successful.
It also served to strengthen our support network and give fresh impetus to our campaign to re-open The White Horse Kimpton as a successful community owned business.