As local communities celebrate the saviour of The Step, Stefanie Mair explores a surprising trend

The Step on Myddleton Road in Bowes Park recently secured the keys to its rescued premises after a successful bid to raise £250,000 of community investment. The much-loved food and drink establishment was expected to be turned into flats by developers, but a group of local volunteers managed to salvage it through government funding and a community share offer.

When it opens its doors, The Step will be London’s fourth community pub, with the Save the Step campaign promising it will have “community spirit at its heart”. Community-owned pubs are those which trade for community benefit and which are democratically owned and controlled by the local community.

The Step will join a fast-growing number of community pubs around the country: according to the Plunkett Foundation, there are now 164 across the UK, up from 85 at the end of 2017. The capital is soon to benefit from an increased number of communityowned pubs too. There are currently just three trading in London, but 13 are in the pipeline.

The Ivy House in Nunhead is London’s oldest community-owned pub, opened in 2013, and the first building in the country to be bought using an ‘Asset of Community Value’ order. The Antwerp Arms in Tottenham then opened in 2015, followed by The Star of Greenwich earlier this year. When The Step opens, Haringey will be home to two out of three of London’s existing community pubs.

The future for this blossoming sector is promising. The Plunkett Foundation, which has been at the forefront of developing community pubs, says the survival rate of community pubs is at 99.3%. This is compared to a five-year survival rate for an average small and medium sized-enterprise (SME) of just 44%, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. Plunkett puts this down to the hard work and determination of the community groups and their volunteers. It also advises those behind community pubs to have a robust constitution and follow legal and financial best practice. It has supported a number of community pubs to open, and volunteers can go back to the charity for advice at any time.

James Gadsby Peet, behind the Star of Greenwich, says that as they don’t need to make a profit, they can keep their prices low: “Our primary mission isn’t to make money. It’s to create conversations between people from different perspectives that wouldn’t normally happen. “As such, the local neighbourhood feels a real sense of buy-in to what we’re trying to do. People are much keener to discuss what we offer, how we do it, the type of events we put on.”

According to the Plunkett Foundation, community-owned pubs also often host a range of services including shops, cafes, post offices, health clinics, and youth clubs. A spokesperson for the charity said: “[Community pubs] work in the interests of their community, run by their community, therefore they are highly responsive to community and customer needs.”

For Gadsby Peet, one of the advantages of a community pub is that “whilst we do lots of the traditional pub stuff, we can also be a bit different”.

The Star of Greenwich offers ‘stay and play’ throughout the week for families, and gives space to local charities that help people to learn English for free. Other community pubs on the horizon for London include The Alliance in Camden, and the Joiners Arms in Shoreditch. The Friends of the Joiners Arms are hoping to open the UK’s first community-run queer venue on Hackney Road in East London. They have successfully raised £125,000 of investment.

As a community benefit society, they say they will invest any profits back into their queer space for the benefit of the community: “No-one will become richer at our expense.”

Gadsby’s advice for anyone thinking of setting up a community pub is: “Get talking to as many different groups of people as possible. Start with your local neighbours but make sure you get out into the wider community to find support for your venture.

“Cast your net wide across various different types of social media and other less digital channels to make sure that you really understand what people want from your pub.”

He also said people should be prepared for some hard work: “The end goal of running a pub is amazing – but before you get there you’ll have to deal with endless detail, bureaucracy and probably a hard slog of decorating.”

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