Guild member Phil Harriss has contacted us to tell us about the Plunkett Foundation, a small charity he works for, which ‘helps rural communities set up social enterprises owned and run by the local community.

‘One of the current programmes it works on is called “More Than A Pub”, which is funded largely by Power to Change (the charitable wing of the National Lottery) and aims to encourage communities to buy and run their neighbourhood hostelries. So far, most of the groups helped have been in rural communities, but the programme is now looking to work more actively in urban/low income areas across England. The priority areas are listed below:

• Bradford (Manningham) 
• Grimsby (Southward, Nunsthorpe and Bradley Park)
• Hartlepool (Dyke House) 
• Leicester (Braunstone) 
• Luton (Northwell)
• Wigan (Abram) 
• Plymouth (Devonport & Stonehouse) 
• Suffolk County Council
• West of England Combined Authority
• Liverpool City Region

If any Guild member is interested in writing an article on community buy-outs of food and drink enterprises, especially in the areas listed above, please contact Hannah Barrett at Hannah.Barrett@plunkett.co.uk

More information about the More Than A Pub programme can be found here plunkett.co.uk/more-than-a-pub/ and powertochange.org.uk/get-support/programmes/community-pubs-support-programme/.