REAL ale campaigners are looking at registering a vacant pub as an asset of community value to protect it from inappropriate development.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is seeking to register The Beech Tree at Barnton, which has been locked and secured since being bought by Lancashire-based family business James Hall and Co from Punch Taverns.

The Runcorn Road pub is being marketed to let at a rent of £85,000 per year, and is described as “in need of modernisation and refurbishment.”

The North Cheshire branch of CAMRA believes that the Beech Tree is under threat, and has written to Barnton Parish Council about the possibility of registering it as an Asset of Community Value.

In England an asset of community value is land or property of importance to a local community which is subject to additional protection from development under the Localism Act 2011. Voluntary and community organisations can nominate an asset to be included on their local authority’s register of asset of community value.

“We’re not only concerned with promoting real ale but also with the preservation of local public houses, especially where they are at risk,” said branch secretary Rupert Adams in the letter.

“With the closure of the Beech Tree and stories about commercial interests in the site, we are concerned that the pub, which we believe to have been an integral part of village life, is still under threat.

“The Localism Act provides interested parties with the opportunity to seek to register Assets of Community Value with the local authority, thereby affording them some level of protection from inappropriate redevelopment.

“We believe that if action is taken now we may, together, still be able to save this pub.”

He said CAMRA could seek to register the pub, and had a number of resources to help it.

“However, we have agreed with Cheshire West and Chester Council that wherever possible we will work with and assist the local community and their representatives to register premises where there is a local interest,” he said.

“Discussions with local CAMRA members suggests there is a group of individuals who would be interested in working with us on this initiative, and we would be very interested to hear your views [the parish council] on the proposal.”

A representative of the CAMRA branch is to be invited to attend a parish council meeting to talk about registering The Beech Tree.