Community-owned pubs increase by 63%

New research has found that the number of community-owned pubs in the UK has increased by 62.6% over the last five years.

Community pubs involve people coming together to form a new democratic business where people, often local, can own a stake in the business and where the pub is run for the benefit of the local community.

The growth of this ownership model is a silver lining to the increase in failed businesses across the on-trade, resulting in record closures in the wider industry.

​The research is from a new report from trade body Co-operatives UK, which shows that the cost-of-living crisis is driving the growth of democratic businesses like co-operatives, mutuals, credit unions and building societies, as communities look for alternative finance options to help at a time of financial crisis.

Its report is the first to measure the full size of the ‘Democratic Economy’ in the UK, meaning those businesses and organisations that give people control and ownership. It reveals that there are 9,113 such businesses in the UK with a combined annual income of £87.9bn.

"As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, we really are coming full circle, with co-operation at the heart of economic growth," says Rose Marley, CEO of Co-operatives UK. "Everywhere in modern business, from AI to farming and culture to data, there are co-ops.

"This report demonstrates the resilience, growth and power of co-operation. I urge all [political] parties to move away from business as usual and embrace those democratic business models that are giving people real power, control and a stake in the future."

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