A newly announced £725,000 in grant funding available from the Prince's Countryside Fund could help landlords to buy rural pub furniture and ensure that more 'locals' can continue to live up to their name by serving as a hub for their local community.
The Fund reports that many rural businesses are under pressure - competitive pricing is subduing agricultural profits, fewer younger people are entering traditional rural professions, and local pubs and shops are disappearing in many places.
From Monday September 7th, rural communities can apply for up to £50,000 each to support initiatives to sustain local farming and other businesses, which could arguably include support to buy rural pub furniture in villages where the public house is a crucial centrepiece to socialising.
Claire Saunders, director of the Prince's Countryside Fund, said: "Rural and farming communities are under immense pressure at the moment.
"We are looking for projects which will have a long-term positive impact to help sustain our rural areas and encourage enterprise that will help the people who care for our countryside and make it tick."
There are three major 'issues' that qualifying initiatives will have to address in whole or in part:
- Thriving Rural Communities involves schemes to keep rural communities together by supporting village services and local hubs for business and employment - something village pubs may be well placed to do by devoting a space to library services or internet access, as has been seen in several communities already.
- Rural Livelihoods focuses on farmer-led initiatives and other efforts to halt the decline of the rural economy, and here hospitality operators could argue that their contribution in terms of tourist revenues is an important aspect of this too.
- Farmers of the Future promotes skills and training to encourage younger people to consider an agricultural career, which again is more likely if rural communities can offer the kinds of socialising and leisure opportunities that the village pub often caters for.
Applications are only open until October 8th 2015 - a Thursday - with a strict cut-off deadline of 5pm, and with at least 15 projects required to benefit due to the £50,000 grant limit, there is a good chance of applicants receiving at least some support from the Fund, whether to buy rural pub furniture, make other renovations, or support some other kind of broader initiative in the local community.