The pub is offering a safe, warm environment for people that cannot afford to put their heating on during the cold weather, along with free hot drinks. Grant Hayes, the landlord, explains more in this video.
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00:00 It's come about because a few people in the pub were saying they knew people that
00:06 were having to sit indoors with their coats on because it was so cold they couldn't
00:10 afford to put heating on all day, especially vulnerable people and elderly people.
00:14 There's a lot of them around this area.
00:17 I already did a scheme where if you were a carer or a blue light worker, you got teas
00:22 and coffees for free in here as kind of a hand back to the community.
00:27 And then I just thought, well, I've got a pub here where the heating's on all the time
00:30 in the winter.
00:31 There's people out there that are shivering in their houses.
00:34 Just off from the pub, they don't have to buy anything.
00:36 Just come in and be warm.
00:38 It's just a simple act.
00:41 I didn't want anything back from it.
00:43 I didn't want them to feel like they had to buy anything.
00:46 So I said, if you bring your own tea bags, I'll gladly boil a kettle of water for you.
00:50 So you haven't got to buy anything.
00:52 Don't feel obligated.
00:55 And as it happens, so many people have since donated tea bags, coffee, milk, sugar, biscuits,
01:03 all sorts of stuff that now I can offer tea and coffee for people and hot chocolate totally
01:07 free for everybody.
01:09 So people can come in.
01:10 They don't feel obligated to buy anything.
01:11 They just come in, sit down, read a paper, read a book, watch the sports if they want
01:16 to, sit over this side in the quiet if they want to, play the games that are there.
01:20 All sorts of Jenga and cards and all sorts of stuff.
01:23 And they can just stay here for a few hours, stay warm, and then go back home again when
01:28 the heating kicks in or when they want to cook something or whatever.
01:32 It just gives them a safe place where they can stay, be warm and not feel that they're
01:38 imposing a problem or anything.
01:40 The amount of shares and comments I've got from people in the area, not just in the area,
01:45 I've got friends abroad and friends up north that they've all been sharing it.
01:49 And the amount of social media response it's generated, it's been amazing.
01:56 And the kickback from it from people, we've had people visiting the pub that have lived
02:00 here for three, four, five years, never come in here, live in the area, but they didn't
02:04 want to come in the pub because they didn't know what it was like.
02:06 But seeing the posts, they've come in.
02:08 I said, "We'll come back more often.
02:10 We'll recommend it to other people."
02:12 A simple thing like offering warmth to people has turned the pub around in people's eyes.
02:19 And if other businesses were to follow suit, you'd end up with places all over the town
02:24 where people could go just to stay and keep warm or have a cup of tea.
02:29 And you wouldn't have the problem you've got nowadays where people are afraid to put heating
02:32 on.
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