Roscoe Head, classic Liverpool pub, saved

The Roscoe Head in Liverpool is one of only five pubs to have been in every issue of the CAMRA
Good Beer Guide, and the only one in the North. Opened in 1870, this unspoilt pub consists of a main bar, two small rooms and a tiny snug. As there is no jukebox or fruit machine, conversation, good beer and a warm welcome are what you get.

Despite its obvious attractions and the success of the business, this pub has been at risk for many years with the owners charging inflated prices for supplying a limited choice of drinks, unreasonable rent, and plans to redevelop the site. The licensee, Carol Ross who took over the running of the pub in 1997 from her mother, has campaigned for many years for a fair deal for pub licensees in general, and for the Roscoe Head in particular.

All her exhausting and stressful hard work has finally paid off: the pub's owners have just agreed to sell her the freehold. This classic pub is a popular destination across Merseyside, not just for real ale drinkers, but for anyone who likes to enjoy a drink with friends in a relaxed, friendly and welcoming environment. This sale ensures that the Roscoe Head will provide just that for generations to come.

Carol had a special word for the pub's supporters: ”I want to say a very special big thank you to all my Roscoe Head family of supporters who have continued to fight this battle with me for over 10 years.”

Carol at the front of a demonstration
in support of the Roscoe Head in 2015

CAMRA Liverpool & Districts branch announced: “We were just as surprised as everyone else but this is absolutely tremendous news and of great significance. Carol has managed to prise this CAMRA award winning pub from her Pubco owner New River Retail who are renowned for converting pubs into retail and residential units.”

With our unique heritage of British locals in even more danger than usual because of the pandemic, such good news makes an encouraging change.

The Roscoe Head is on Roscoe Street, Liverpool L1 2SX, less than 10 minutes' walk from Central Station, just around the corner from Liverpool's iconic Bombed Out Church. Do pay it a visit when you can. Website.

► This is one of a series of articles that I write for the CAMRA column in our local papers, the Southport Visiter and Ormskirk Advertiser. Older articles on local pubs are here.

Roscoe Head campaign

There has so far been no progress in the campaign to ensure the future of the Roscoe Head in Roscoe Street, Liverpool 1. The assurances provided by New River, the property developers who have bought this pub, one of only five in every Good Beer Guide, are wholly inadequate. As I previously wrote:

The only assurance New River have given is that there are no plans to redevelop the Roscoe Head ... into convenience stores "at this stage". There is no guarantee about conversion into something other than a convenience store, or how long "this stage" will last.

The campaign is being stepped up. There will be another rally at the pub at 12.30 pm on Saturday 7 November, which will attended by CAMRA's National Chair, Colin Valentine, which is a measure how seriously CAMRA is taking this issue. There may be some music, but at any event Liverpool Branch are hoping for a good, vociferous turnout. I'll be there certainly.

Click here for my other posts on the campaign.

A pint too far?

I e-mailed the CAMRA Marketing Team about the concerns I had about the Campaign's promotion of Punch's free pint offer for Cask Ale Week (see previous post of 26 September), seeing that they had just agreed to sell 158 pubs, including the Roscoe Head in Liverpool, to a property developer. I'm not really convinced by their reply, but I'll let you judge for yourself. Here it is in full:

Thank you for your feedback, all comments received from our members are appreciated and considered.

Punch have played an active part in Cask Ale Week, a UK wide event championing real ale. This promotion is supporting the Punch pub leaseholders by driving CAMRA members into their pubs during Cask Ale Week, these are the very pubs CAMRA has been campaigning to help over the last few years in regards to the tied pub issue. Whilst some of CAMRA's aims and activities conflict with that of Punch's, we encourage a healthy dialogue between us when goals align. Keeping the lines of communication open also allows us to raise and discuss issues when they do not.

CAMRA is also committed to four Key Campaigns..... one is to encourage more people into pubs and another to drink a range of real ales. This scheme can help with both of these Key Campaigns.

I hope this explains the thinking behind our relationship with Punch and the associated Cask Ale Week promotion.

CAMRA Marketing team

Keeping lines of communication open is one thing; acting as their unofficial promoter is quite another. I have questioned the value of CAMRA's May Is Mild Month campaign. Perhaps similar arguments apply to Cask Ale Week if promoting it means we have to compromise basic principles of saving real ale and real pubs just so members with a smart phone can get a free pint in a Punch pub.

CAMRA accepts 30 pieces of silver

It's Cask Ale Week, apparently. I can't say I would have noticed, except that I received a gushing e-mail from CAMRA promoting it. They point out that the 'week' runs from 24 September to 4 October, helpfully explaining that this is 10 days, although it's 11 by my reckoning.

There's a free pint promotion from Punch Taverns, although you have to have an internet enabled smartphone to access the offer. That doesn't bother me too much. The fact that CAMRA is promoting a Punch Taverns offer does.

Last month Punch agreed to sell 158 pubs to New River, a property company with a record of converting pubs to other uses. This sale included the Roscoe Head in Liverpool, one of only five pubs in every Good Beer Guide, and the only one north of Cambridge. I've written about this issue and the local campaign on 31 August, 6 September, and 13 September.

My question is: why is CAMRA promoting an offer by a pub company that is no real friend of the Campaign, whose record with pubs is scarcely exemplary and who has put a cherished local at risk? It's a punch in the face for local campaigners who are trying to prevent or limit the damage this business is causing.

Roscoe Head demo

Carol Ross heads the demo outside her pub
(click on the picture to enlarge it)

Big day in Liverpool yesterday for the Roscoe Head with a demo in the street supporting this threatened pub (I've written twice about this issue recently on the 31 August and the 6 September). Liverpool CAMRA had called the demo, and it was attended by its own members, along with members from neighbouring branches - six from my branch, Southport and West Lancs - pub regulars and some representatives of the media.

The street had been blocked off for the occasion, and I was pleased that two Liverpool councillors addressed the event; it's good to see local politicians recognise the significance of pubs like the Roscoe Head to the community and to the attractiveness of Liverpool as a destination for visitors.

I had known that the pub was one of only five to be in every Good Beer Guide, but was surprised to learn it is the only one north of Cambridge. Copies of CAMRA local magazine, Mersey Ale, were waved in the air for the cameras, along with letters of protest to be signed and sent to the boss of New River, the property company buying this pub from Punch Taverns.

When it was all over, most of us went indoors with the altruistic aim of boosting the pub's profits, although quite a few stayed outside in the street to enjoy their pints in the sunny weather. If there's a better way of showing this pub's popularity, I can't think of it.

Here again is the petition to Liverpool City Council to list the pub as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), and here is the report of the event in the Liverpool Echo.

P.S. I hear that the council as agreed the ACV, although this is subject to the agreement of the Land Registry.

If you want to write to New River, you can click on this letter, save it on your own computer and print it off. Don't forget to add your own name and address.

Roscoe Head sale - update

A sign in the Roscoe Head

Further to my post on Monday about the Roscoe Head in Liverpool, CAMRA Liverpool Branch are taking very seriously the risk to this pub, one of five nationwide, and the only pub in the North of England, in every edition of the Good Beer Guide.

On four separate occasions, Punch Taverns refused to sell the pub to the licensee Carol Ross because, they said, the Roscoe Head was part of their core estate. Suddenly, and with very little notice to Carol, it was redesignated non-core and sold to New River, who are a property development company with a record of closing and converting pubs. The only assurance New River have given is that there are no plans to redevelop the Roscoe Head or any other pubs they've recently acquired into convenience stores "at this stage". There is no guarantee about conversion into something other than a convenience store, or how long "this stage" will last.

The Roscoe Head is a popular, attractive and well-maintained pub. None of the usual arguments about pub closures - run down, not well used, economically unviable - apply here. There's no doubt that many pubs sit on prime sites that can produce a bonanza if redeveloped, but that fact alone isn't a good argument to redevelop them. The Roscoe Head is very much a locals pub near the city centre, and is popular with a range of pub goers, not just real ale drinkers. Regrettably we live in an age of rampant capitalism that defines everything by its monetary price, with little regard to its real value by other, more human measures.

Here is a petition to Liverpool City Council to register the Roscoe Head as an Asset of Community Value (AVC), whereby planning permission is required to change a building's use or to demolish it.

There is a demo planned outside the pub at 2.00pm next Saturday 12 September. I suspect there may be some refreshment associated with the event.

Two cheers - Liverpool's Roscoe Head saved

The Roscoe Head's entry in the 1974 Good Beer Guide.
Descriptions were very brief in those days!

While I was in Whitby, I learnt that the Roscoe Head in Roscoe Street, Liverpool, had been sold by Punch Taverns to property company New River and was at risk of redevelopment. It is an attractive little local near the city centre with a tiny snug on the left as you enter, two lounges and a drinking area by the bar. There are six hand pumps serving five changing guest beers mostly from small breweries, plus Tetley Bitter. It is also one of only five pubs that have been in every edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

New River's response is that existing leases are legally binding, and the Roscoe's runs to 2021. The licensee, Carol Ross, is obviously relieved that in the short term she is okay, but is worried what may happen when the lease expires. She had hoped to benefit from the Market Rent Only option that was recently agreed by parliament, but in order to qualify, the pub has to be part of an estate of at least 500 pubs, and New River has fewer than 300. As she says, she will now have to keep on paying over the odds. The sale was particularly upsetting as she had offered to buy the pub on several occasions, but was refused, and she wasn't offered first refusal when this sale took place. She is particularly bitter because, although her family have run the pub since 1983, she feels she has no rights.

The Roscoe Head (picture borrowed
from pub website)

She is right to be concerned: New River is primarily involved in the retail sector, and although it has bought quite a few pubs, if the potential proceeds of redevelopment exceed the profitability of any pub, the days of that pub would almost certainly be numbered. If the economy improves sufficiently to push up the price of land and make redevelopment and construction more profitable, then ironically the upturn, which might otherwise help pubs survive, may put some of them at risk. This is one of the unforseen long-term consequences of the Beer Orders that led to whole pub estates being bought by the property companies that we call pubcos.

I understand that the CAMRA Liverpool Branch is applying to have the Roscoe Head registered as an Asset of Community Value (AVC), whereby planning permission is required to change a building's use or to demolish it. Let's hope they succeed.

P.S. 1 September: here is a petition calling on Liverpool City Council to list the pub as an AVC.