Heritage Public Houses Bill

Debate between Adam Jogee and Kevin Bonavia

Friday 16th October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Kevin Bonavia]

My hon. Friend, also from Hertfordshire, makes a really important point. There are lessons to be learnt from new towns, including how we place pubs at the heart of our community. Stevenage is salutary in that respect. When the pioneers of Stevenage put our town together, they thought very carefully about the place. Many people deride the concept of 15-minute towns as some kind of conspiracy to try to keep us trapped in our homes—far from it. The pioneers of Stevenage thought that community centres had to be no more than 15 minutes from where people live, and at the heart of that community neighbourhood would be the pub. In every neighbourhood you go to in Stevenage, you will find a pub—or a former pub, and that is the point.

[Adam Jogee]

I am enjoying listening to my hon. Friend talk about his new town. My town is an old town; it received its charter from King Henry II in 1173. Does he agree that it is not just in new towns where we see examples of the contribution that pubs can make, but in ancient towns like Newcastle-under-Lyme?

[Kevin Bonavia]

I am very happy to agree with my hon. Friend. As I was just about to say, I represent the UK’s first post-war new town, but it is built around an old town, in which I live, that still has 10 pubs along its high street. That high street is part of the Great North Road from London to Edinburgh. It was the first overnight stop for coaches, and we still have examples of coaching inns, the Red Lion being the most famous. In the old town we also have the Mulberry Tree, which was once the White Lion. My hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh (Chris Murray) talked about the Tolbooth Tavern on the Royal Mile having been a prison, among other things. The White Lion was also a prison, for Napoleonic prisoners of war 200 years ago. It became a vestry and a fire station, and it is now perhaps the liveliest pub down the high street on a Friday night.

Where I live, the pubs on our high street are thriving—as I said, we have 10—but across the new town, where the nearest pub should be 15 minutes’ walk away, some of those pubs have gone, such as the Twin Foxes. The oldest pub in the new town, in Bedwell, is now a block of flats, which is a salutary warning from many years ago that ensuring that pubs survive is really difficult.

--- Later in debate ---

[Kevin Bonavia]

My hon. Friend makes a really important point. The hon. Member for Kingswinford and South Staffordshire says that the Bill is for pubs that are beyond the age of 150, but the fact is that the implications of wording matter in legislation. I would have framed the Bill in a different way. More importantly, we do not always have to introduce new laws in this place; we should think about how we can better implement the laws that already exist. I will turn to that in the final part of my contribution.

On heritage, and new places that will become future heritage pubs, the Six Hills Taproom in Stevenage’s old town has a nod to its heritage. Its most famous brand of microbrew beer is the Six Hills brand.

[Adam Jogee]

I am very interested to hear about that brewery. What would my hon. Friend order if he were there now?

[Kevin Bonavia]

I was there last week. It does samples of all its beers and I tried a few tiny samples, although I made sure not to have too much. I currently like its stout, which I would recommend as my personal favourite. It is all named after the six hills, which anyone who comes into Stevenage will see. They are Roman burial mounds, so it is a nod to Stevenage’s ancient heritage—we are far more than just a new town.

Across our new town, what we do with our pubs is important. We are not supposed to talk about politics in pubs, but I wholly disagree with that. Before I became an MP, and since I have been one, I have been promoting pints with politics in local pubs—“Have a bev with Kev”—and, importantly, local residents have come in. Some people older than me who have never voted have come to say, “Why should I vote? What is this politics thing all about?” In a place like this we might almost belittle that, but we absolutely should not. We must get into our communities, and there is no better way than getting into our pubs. That is why it is so important that we in this place protect and enhance our pubs.

[Kevin Bonavia]

I am sure that all Members of the House do our best to get out to wherever our constituents are, and there is no better place than the local pub. Beyond Stevenage, I also represent four villages: Knebworth, Codicote, Datchworth and Aston. In Knebworth we have the Station, which is a pub that was not going to survive. It was built around the station over 100 years ago, and it became an asset of community value when councillors, residents and the parish council came together and were able to buy it. Members are welcome to pop into the Station if they are lucky enough to have a ticket to Oasis, who are playing six concerts at Knebworth Park next summer.

[Adam Jogee]

Are you going?

[Kevin Bonavia]

My hon. Friend asks whether I will be attending, and I really hope that I can, but whether or not people are there for Oasis, they should please come and see Knebworth. Before Oasis made their name in Knebworth in 1996 they started out in a pub, the Man in the Moon, in Stevenage.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill [Lords]

Debate between Adam Jogee and Kevin Bonavia

Committee stage & Report stage
Wednesday 13th November 2024 Public Bill Committees

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I wish to declare a personal interest: I am a director and trustee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK branch. It is a non-pecuniary interest.

[Adam Jogee (Newcastle-under-Lyme) (Lab)]

I, too, would like to declare an interest as a member of the UK branch of the CPA. I also echo the welcome to the shadow Foreign Secretary; she had the wisdom to attend Keele University in Newcastle-under-Lyme, so her and I are best friends on that basis. I also place on record my thanks to Stephen Twigg and all those who work at the CPA; they do wonderful work, and I am pleased to be here to support the Bill.