Celebs fight to keep locals open
For Kym Marsh CELEBRITIES are leading a campaign to call time on pub closures, as a study warns more than 5,000 could shut up shop by 2024. East, where 660 would close, and Scotland, where 615 could shut down.
Today the Mirror is calling on readers to get behind our great British pubs.
Jodie, a pub landlady herself, said: “I’m backing the Long Live The Local campaign and hope this inspires others to support their own local by signing the petition to cut beer duty.”
Jodie, 40, who saved The Half Moon in Kirdford, West Sussex from closure in 2017, presented her blue plaque to TV chef Tom Kerridge.
His pub, The Hand & Flowers in Marlow,
Let’s have it right - it’s a place we can’t afford to lose
TV HOST ON LOCAL PUBS Bucks, was where she had her first date with boyfriend Joseph Bates last year.
Corrie actress Kym Marsh, 43, who rose to fame with the band Hear’Say, chose the Golden Lion in Ashton-inMakerfield, Gtr Manchester, as her blue plaque pub because it was where she made her karaoke debut in 2001. Former Premier League footballer and Sky’s Soccer AM host Jimmy Bullard, 40, nominated The Royal Oak in Bexleyheath, London, for a blue plaque.
It has been his local for 22 years and he said it was “the perfect local for beer and Bullard banter”. Jimmy called on other pub regulars to fight for their local, too.
He said: “Let’s have it right – it’s a place that we cannot stand to lose. Get involved and sign the petition to keep the doors open for many years to come.”
The Long Live The Local petition for a cut in beer tax has 167,000 names.
According to a YouGov poll almost three-quarters of us feel pubs are the heartbeat of a community.
David Cunningham, Long Live The Local programme director, said: “Pubs are community institutions, and it’s fantastic to see the love and support people have for their locals.
“We hope this initiative inspires others to recognise the importance of the local pub and to consider how they would feel if it was no longer there.”
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