Save Our Boozer: The final episode

Monday the 1st of February sees Save Our Boozer return to your screens on Blighty with an all new episode from the charming village of Yarcombe at 8pm. This was undoubtedly one of the most rewarding episodes to make with an opportunity for the locals to rescue a Pub that has stood in their village for over nine centuries! My concern was instant as the village is absolutely tiny, having only fifty houses but if we allow Pubs with such history to close for good we really are letting our herritage go far too easily.

Luckily the villagers agreed and got stuck in right from the off, painting, plumbing, cleaning and organising to ensure that after only two short weeks the building was ready to open. Sadly the same can't be said for the rota and it soon became clear that responsibility for actually serving people was going to fall on a few very tired shoulders. As with many of the other pubs featured in the series it was easy to galvanise the community behind the idea of saving their local but it was also very obvious that a good deal of them fell victim to the old myth that running a pub is easy, a theory that has seen more than it's fair share of casualties.

I loved making this series and I hope that through watching it a few more village communities give their local another chance, without their support and hard work these pubs can more often than not be impossible to rescue, the figures just don't stack up if you throw wages and holidays into the mix. The Great British Pub really is at the mercy of The Great British Public and anyone living in a small town or village that has lost it's Pub in the last few years will tell you life is just not the same. Contact with neighbours is lost, house prices stagnate and new friendships are harder to forge without a pint and a roaring fire! The recession may be nearing an end but the red tape and taxation just keeps coming; if you are waiting for an experienced landlord to ride into your town on a white horse and save your boozer you may well be in for a very long wait...

The final episode of Save Our Boozer is being shown on Blighty (Sky 534, Virgin 206) at 8pm on Monday Feb 1st, with the previous episodes shown all next week at the same time