WHEN Croydon's Red Deer pub is replaced by Morrisons early next year, it will be the third local in the borough to go that way in less than two years.
A fourth, the former Good Companions in Sanderstead, could join the list if Lidl gets planning permission to build a supermarket on the site of the pub, which has been demolished.
Those closures have met steep opposition from local residents, although none has yet resulted in a community takeover of the type sweeping the country.
Roger Molyneux, landlord of the community-run Hope pub in Carshalton, Sutton, would encourage people to change that.
He says the process of taking over a pub is much easier nowadays compared to when The Hope was taken over in 2010, with Government help in place.
"The Government is attempting to encourage people to take charge of the 'last pub in the village' sort of thing, and we had quite a lot of input into that," he said.
He and co-shareholders took over The Hope to stop it being turned into a restaurant. It now employs 18 staff, compared to the previous four.
The possible stresses of group management had been lessened, he added, by a clear vision from the outset and the 32 shareholders electing a board of six directors.
"It is a proper management structure. You could not have 32 people running a pub," he said.
"The shareholders are pretty much like-minded because we set it out and people who did not fancy it did not join in."
About 100 pubs in England have now been registered as Community Assets of Value, giving community groups a window to bid for a pub if it were put up for sale. Currently, none have been put forward in Croydon.
The Plunkett Foundation, an independent charity, is helping community groups take over those pubs as co-operatives.
Spokesman Mike Perry said most are taken over as an Industrial and Provident Society, giving a vote per person rather than per share.
He added that pubs doing badly and therefore put up for sale often turn out to be very successful under community management.
He said: "I think we struggle with the rationale that if someone runs a pub badly the pub is not viable.
"But under community ownership there is massive support and engagement. The feeling is – this is our pub, we want it to be great, we want it to be successful."
Government capital grants to help communities buy pubs can be applied for until August 30, with funds still available to help get bids off the ground.
But that's too late for The Good Companions, which has been bought and demolished by Lidl.
Issues raised by campaigners there include the fact that the owners did not need planning permission to demolish the building, leaving opponents fighting a different battle to the one they started.
Campaigner Ray Harper said: "The planning law ought to be changed to that no building should be demolished without planning permission to rebuild it. Instead it becomes a 'We don't want a Lidl'."
Steve O'Connell, Greater London Assembly member for Croydon and Sutton, is urging planning authorities to "put in place as much protection as they can" for pubs.
The Kenley councillor published a report to that effect in March and says he will be sending copies to planning directors.
One of the measures called for is a limit to the sale of cheap alcohol from high street stores.
Croydon Council consulted earlier this year on plans to restrict the number of stores selling alcohol in a given area, plans which are still "in the pipeline," a spokesman said.
Mr O'Connell added that he would also support pubs seeking to get planning permission regardless of a premises' previous use.
