New Year cheer for community pubs following confirmation of restrictive covenants review
Norwich South MP Simon Wright has welcomed a pledge made by the pubs minister Bob Neill to review rules that prevent some closed community pubs from reopening as pubs. A public consultation will review restrictive covenants, which are used in the sale of a building to restrict the use by new owners. Large pub companies have used covenants to limit competition, which has resulted in some pubs being closed with no hope of re-opening. Mr Wright said: "Pubs play a vital part in building strong communities, and New Year's Eve will have demonstrated that in pubs across Norfolk. But we're losing pubs at a dreadful rate, and that damages our communities. "The practice of some pub companies in restricting the use of pubs after sale through covenants is scandalous. It deprives communities of assets and denies the opportunity to prospective alternative landlords to develop a thriving business. The motivation of using restrictive covenants by large pub companies is to avoid competition, and often results in pubs bei