North Manchester CAMRA believes it is, especially when it is part of the historic Queens Arms in Patricroft. Apart from being what we believe is the world’s oldest railway pub it is now listed as an Asset of Community Value (ACV).

It took almost a year but the ‘Queens Arms Preservation Society’ (QAPS) finally succeeded in having its nomination approved by Salford City Council in the summer.

QAPS are a group of the pubs regulars concerned about what could happen to this historic pub in future. They decided to do something about it.

Backed by the Licensee 21 people (the minimum required) signed a nomination form stating that they believed the Queens Arms is a valuable community asset. They also provided evidence to support this including activities including a darts team, regular live music and meetings of local community groups.

Although already a Grade II listed building it was felt that this extra layer of protection would be important. This has proved to be the case as in between the original nomination being sent and its final approval the government introduced a change to the legislation. This now means that any building listed as an ACV cannot be converted to a supermarket, restaurant or other similar building without planning permission. This is a protection previously unavailable and these days it is proving to be very important in light of recent conversions such as the White Horse in Gilda Brook to a mini supermarket.

What is an ACV? Any group of local people can nominate a building or piece of land that they believe should be kept in public use and remain a part of community life. The nomination is made to the relevant local council who then go through an eight week process to decide whether they think it is an appropriate addition to that council’s register of ACVs. When added to the register this gives a certain amount of protection to the building or land. In the simplest terms if the owner wishes to sell any building or land listed on the register it has to give the local community six weeks to decide if they would like to bid or have a preferred bidder for the property. If so the local group must notify the council in this time and will then have a further six months to try to realise their bid for the property.

Protect your pub So don’t let your pub go the way of some of our recent losses, for instance the Black Friar in Salford is to become offices, the Spa Tavern in Little Hulton is a nursery and the Albert Vaults on Chapel Street in Salford is just an empty space. So if you value your pub as a community asset then get together with your friends in that pub and put a nomination in to your council.

Since ‘QAPS’ nominated the Queens Arms there have been changes to the legislation that allow local CAMRA to make nominations – so watch this space....

Obviously CAMRA has an interest in pubs but anyone reading this may be able to think of other community assets they would like to protect. This is about YOUR COMMUNITY!