A community of independent pub supporters have launched Support an Independent Pub Day to help locals through the hospitality crisis.
The collective of pub aficionados, including the London Pub Explorer and CityStack, have designated next Saturday, 10th February, as the day to get behind independent locals.
Research has shown that 43.6% of wet-led pubs, bars, and nightclubs have disappeared over the last 20 years. This trend is even more concerning for independent businesses, which have seen a 32.9% decline. Their managed counterparts, meanwhile, have experienced an uplift of 14.6% over the same period.
With skyrocketing operating costs, these treasured establishments can only survive with high footfall and customers spending money, even more so during the quietest period of the year.
Support an Independent Pub Day aims to raise awareness of the disappearance of these much-loved places that form part of the UK’s DNA. To encourage people to visit independent pubs, the team of pub supporters will heavily promote the event with their passionate communities on social media.
All independent pubs will be invited to spread the word to call patrons old and new to visit their establishment and celebrate the wonderful sense of community these homes away from home have to offer.
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Alistair Von Lion, AKA the London Pub Explorer, will invite his Instagram community of 35,000 followers to gather at the Northcote Arms, an independent historic Leytonstone pub which, like many hostelries, faces massive challenges with the current economic climate.
“The Northcote Arms is very close to my heart as it carries the traditions of the past in East London,” he said. “The landlady, like many, toils stoically to keep this treasure alive. It breaks my heart to see so many bastions of British culture cherished by their communities, such as the Northcote Arms, disappear every day. I want to encourage people to discover these pubs and help keep them alive by visiting them.”
The former Charrington’s pub, built in the 1880s, is a much-loved local, where Leyton Orient supporters and the LGBTQ+ community come to drink alongside a harmonious cross-section of East Londoners. The landlady, a second-generation Cockney publican, took over the pub in 2014 and works passionately to keep the community entertained with inclusive weekly events, such as East End piano singalongs, music bingo and drag acts.
CityStack has been created to encourage Londoners to visit and support independent pubs. It offers a unique discount scheme: a £25 stack of beer mats that lets pub lovers get £100 worth of food and drink at any ten of more than 50 independent pubs across London. The pack comes with a special beer mat to stamp at each venue to get £10 off a £20+ spend. Customers collect ten stamps to save £100.
