Letter to the editor: I am glad to see Bob Neill MP is trying to save yet another pub from closure (Meeting On Prickly Subject Of Old Pub, News Shopper, April 24).
It is worth noting this will be at least the third pub in Bromley and Chislehurst to close since 2010, after The Bird In Hand in Bickley and The Broomwood in St Paul’s Cray.
The Bell in central Bromley has been closed for some years and remains empty, despite a campaign for it to be brought back into use, either as a community arts centre or indeed as a community pub.
This is a tragedy, as they rarely return to pub use and become private dwellings, or a fast-food restaurant, in the case of The Broomwood.
Given their importance as a community asset, and the cut in beer duty announced in the Chancellor’s last budget, we need to be supporting our pubs not closing them.
I hope Mr Neill, as a former community pubs minister, is doing all he can to make sure The Porcupine doesn’t shut for good.
Sam Webber, vice-chairman, Bromley Liberal Democrats
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