‘A community let down by two huge companies’

The Castle pub has become a symbol of how pub companies and supermarkets work together against the wishes of locals, and has been used as an example of a nationwide issue – writes John Denham MP in this opinion piece for bitternepark.info

 

 

When a group of Midanbury residents and traders came to an advice surgery in March, I didn’t expect their issue to become the symbol of the national fight to stop big companies carving up local communities against the wishes of local people.

The Castle pub on Witts Hill has been a Midanbury landmark for decades.  The local Labour Party has sometimes held meetings there.   Today it is a symbol for the way pub companies and supermarkets work together against the wishes of local residents.

Easy option

The Castle was owned by Enterprise Inns, a company which owns more than 6,000 pubs across Britain. Though it is a ‘pub company’ it is really a huge debt-laden property company.  Instead of investing in the Castle to bring in more trade, or offering on the open market to potential landlords, Enterprise took the easy option of selling the pub and its car park to Tesco. By the time local people found out what was going on, the deed had been done.

The Witts Hill parade already has the Sonchatla’s SNA supermarket, a Co-op, pharmacy and a bakery and most local people think it is ridiculous to have yet another Tesco Express when there are three others within a mile.

Traders and residents drummed up support and 600 hundred people signed their petition.  Tesco and Enterprise Inns were never going to be let off lightly for their actions – and that’s why regional news outlets like BBC South and the Daily Echo took interest and covered the campaign.

As the local campaign developed it became clear that this was not an isolated case. In the past two years alone, CAMRA have found over 200 pubs converted to supermarkets with another 45 in the pipeline. Tesco have done 130 of these. We looked around the city and saw that the Eagle, the Woodman, among others, had all gone the same way.
 

After I spoke in the House of Commons debate on pubs and beer duty the Campaign for Real Ale and the Save Our Pubs campaign used the Castle, and the local campaign, as an example of a nationwide issue. At the moment supermarkets don’t need planning permission to convert a pub into a shop. This should change, the pub owners should be required to sell pubs on the open market so that other landlord and entrepreneurs have a chance to bid.

‘The rules of the game need to change’

The rules of the game need to change so that big companies can’t ignore local people. As a result of the Castle campaign, Tesco did agree to meet residents and traders. They left the supermarket giant in no doubt about how they felt; the meeting was heated, to say the least, and it will not be the last.

If Tesco ever say they are not aware of the strength of feeling against their proposed store, then all they need to do is look at what has happened here in the last few months: a community angry and let down by two huge companies, who have worked together behind closed doors to dictate what the community in Midanbury should look like.

Whether or not the local campaign ends in victory, local people can be proud to have played a part in developing a strong national campaign that will, eventually, change the rules.

John Denham
Labour MP for Southampton Itchen

Previously on bitternepark.info - Residents and traders oppose Tesco