The King s Arms in Bexleyheath, featured in Heineken s Open Arms report on pubs in the UK and in lockdown. A local Bexley pub has been hailed for its brilliant community impact and cited as a shining example of a pub playing a positive role in its area. Pete Marshall of The King’s Arms has been praised for going above and beyond over the last Covid-hit year, from Sunday roasts for hospital staff, Mother’s Day food for isolating mothers to fundraising virtual quizzes. A new national report has stressed the importance of pubs such as this Bexley local have in society, also giving a stark reminder of the impact of the closure of pubs is having.
Open arms: Why pubs are key in the fight against loneliness
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A new report has confirmed just how important the Great British pub is in the fight against loneliness, as brewery Heineken takes to calling vulnerable people to relieve solitude in place of sharing a pint.
After almost a year of restrictions, regional and national lockdowns, and tiers, people across the UK have been affected physically, economically and mentally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with loneliness being a huge concern across communities.
The usual places to meet, socialise and connect with people have been removed. One of the key places for millions of Britons to do so in their ‘normal’ day to day life is the Great British pub. In fact, as a result of the pandemic more than 300 pubs have been permanently closed, and many more fear the same fate with no end in sight for the national lockdown.
A new survey has highlighted the devastating impact of pub closures on communities and isolated individuals.
The
Open Arms report was commissioned by The Campaign to End Loneliness and part of a collaboration between Heineken and Loughborough University.
Some 86% of survey respondents said when a pub closes the local community suffers.
Just over two third (64%) said their local was one of the main places that people living in their area can socialise.
Conversations between regulars and staff in pubs had a significant impact on alleviating feelings of isolation, the report found.
Pub staff posses a range of soft skills relating to customer service and communication, the report said.
The organisation said charities were reporting increased demand for support during the coronavirus pandemic. In its latest Oxfordshire Needs Analysis report, focused on mental health, OCF argues that the Covid-19 pandemic and repeated lockdowns are in danger of creating an ‘epidemic of loneliness’ across the county. The report highlights that around 6,000 people across Oxfordshire are claiming Personal Independence Payments as a result of mental health struggles, and this evidence is likely to be hiding a much larger issue, during a crisis that demands self-isolation and social distancing. The report also revealed that 30,000 pensioners in Oxfordshire lived alone, and that the majority of areas across the county are more isolated than average from services such as supermarkets, GP surgeries and Post Offices.
Well, me. I am not objecting to campaigns dedicated to charities or important causes, like International Women’s Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Book Week Scotland and the like. But National Popcorn Day? Come on. Squirrel Appreciation Day - really? Does the planet absolutely have to have a World Nutella Day? Most of the really daft ones, of course, are dreamt up by marketing firms flogging a particular product or attention-seeking so-called influencers. (World Nutella Day, if you are interested, was started in 2007 by an American blogger and now, on February 5, people all over the world celebrate it by sharing their recipes and pictures on social media.)