THE FATE of Lake District pubs was on the agenda at the Liberal Democrat Party conference this week.

Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Westmorland and Lonsdale, spoke up in defence of public houses, which he maintained were as integral to the local community as village schools, post offices and churches.

He stressed that the boom in 'Mcpubs' and big city chains was putting land lords of free houses, and even the tenant managers within those chains, under considerable financial pressure and in many cases forcing them out of business.

Speaking to the Gazette after his speech, he said: "Every month around 20 pubs are closed across the country.

In some cases rural pubs are owned by big companies who are very distant and do not necessarily care if the tenant manager goes out of business.

Their priority is profit and where there is none they will let the pub close down."

He added that the crisis in farming has seriously depleted the spending power of rural communities, placing public houses under further strain.

"Rural pubs have been part of the community for hundreds of years and deserve protection," he said.

Following his speech, the motion to protect small breweries and free houses from unfair competition from much bigger breweries and pub chains was approved by the conference.

Alan Ridson, Westmorland secretary of the Campaign for Real Ale, agreed with Mr Farron's concerns but said the Lake District had fared better than many rural locations.

"In this area tourism helps to bolster trade in rural pubs," he said.

Mr Ridson agreed that small, independent landlords were often stuck between "a rock and a hard place."

He said: "They are not given the same mandatory 50 per cent reduction in rates as rural post offices and shops because pubs are not considered to provide the necessities of life.

But that is not taking into account their social function.

If they were given the rate reduction many more rural pubs could scrape by."