It’s been great to see Brixton Hill pub The Hand in Hand throwing its doors open once again after the shutters went down last August. Last weekend, I cut the red tape of the new-look venue and had a chance to chat to staff and some of the regulars.

The spot on New Park Road has been a community hub for as long as I can remember. It was great to see it busy with locals and we even found time to play a couple of frames of pool.

It’s a very difficult environment for small business at the moment. The last Labour manifesto recognised that all across the country, too many pubs are being forced to close due to financial burdens. We devised several policies to address some of these difficulties and put the pub back in public life. These included permitting community groups to buy pubs threatened with closure, listing pubs as assets of Community value and introducing business rates reform.