Save Our Pubs Crusade: How my burgers saved The Bear
ALTHOUGH our great British pubs are being strangled by red tape and battered by taxes, entrepreneurs are fighting back.
An enthusiastic supporter of our campaign to save these national institutions, which are closing at the rate of 39 a week, is Chris Lewis, who has brought The Bear back to life.
He added a burger bar to his Stafford pub and the beleaguered Bear is now blooming as The Bear Grill.
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Mr Lewis, 42, said: “It was a typical struggling town centre pub with a small beer garden that had been hit hard by the smoking ban and change in licensing laws. The burger business is incredibly successful despite being opposite a rather well-known chain.”
He uses texting and email to send out offers such as a free bottle of wine for a table of four.
“We see families, pensioners and young people in here,” he said. “Of course, it’s still a pub, too, with a selection of cask beers.”
The pub has been part of the fabric of British social life since Roman times. Over two millennia it has developed into an institution unique to these islands.
Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, our partner in the Sunday Express crusade, said: “Along with shops, post offices and schools, village pubs are pivotal to the life of communities across Britain.
“They are a focal point for sports teams, groups and meetings. They also provide a range of community services like post offices and shops.”
There are still around 54,000 pubs in the UK, eight out of 10 adults are pub-goers and more than 15 million people drink in a pub at least once a week.
They also boost the economy and David Cameron has vowed to keep Britain a pub-friendly nation. Pubs employ 600,000 people and the average one spends £70,000 a year on locally sourced goods and services.