Love your local! The Owl Sanctuary, in Norwich city centre

Although the Owl Sanctuary is not in my constituency, I have heard from a small number of constituents upset about the news of closure.

Pubs and music venues really can be the heart of the community, so it's for exactly this kind of scenario that I've helped pass laws in Parliament that let the community have their say about pubs that are genuinely locally important.  In my own constituency I've encouraged other groups to make use of these tools to protect community pubs and I would say the same here.  In fact it's easy to do: you need as few as 21 people to sign up to register a pub as an 'asset of community value'. See more detail here:  https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/youve-got-the-power-a-quick-and-simple-guide-to-community-rights and http://www.camra.org.uk/list-your-local and http://www.norwich.gov.uk/YourCouncil/Pages/AssetsOfCommunityValueInformation.aspx.  When I hear from real community fans like you and others who care about the Owl or any Norwich pub, I’m pleased that the government has made this protection possible and it’s down to people to use it.

I understand that Norwich CAMRA has already submitted an application for the Owl to Norwich City Council, which I would support and I'd urge you to join them.  I believe this can help to protect the Owl by making the council consider the community's wishes when any planning application is submitted by the owner.  Of course, this then has to come down to fair public discussion and decision-making, which is what democracy is all about.