Pub is The Hub

07/09/2026

🍻 BACKING HOSPITALITY IN HALIFAX AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY ☕️

From Halifax town centre and Sowerby Bridge to communities across our outer villages, our pubs, cafés and restaurants are at the heart of local life.

As your MP and the Minister for the Future of Work, I am proud to have launched a new £10 million Hospitality Grant Scheme to support venues like these in Halifax and across the country.

The funding will support projects that:

🏪 Help new hospitality businesses get started

🔑 Bring empty premises back into use

👩‍🍳 Give people the training and skills to begin careers in hospitality

🤝 Help trusted venues adapt, grow and offer more to their communities

More than £3 million will go to Pub is The Hub, which helps pubs in rural and disadvantaged areas introduce services such as village shops, community cafés, play areas and arts activities.

This comes alongside a 20% cut to business rates bills for pubs, clubs and live music venues from next April, saving the typical pub around £1,000 next year.

Hospitality businesses make an enormous contribution to Halifax. They create jobs, give many young people their first experience of work and provide places where our communities can come together.

I know that many hospitality businesses are still under real pressure and that there is much more to do. I will continue making the case across government for the support our local pubs, cafés and restaurants need.

I am proud that, as Halifax’s MP, I have been able to bring this scheme forward in government.

If you run a pub, restaurant or café locally, I would encourage you to find out more and see whether the scheme could support your plans 👇

🔗 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/10-million-hospitality-grant-scheme-launches-in-boost-for-independent-pubs-restaurants-and-cafes

24/08/2026

Great to celebrate those pub heroes! Good luck to all the finalists.

🏆 Celebrating our Community Support Hero finalists! 🏆

These incredible pubs are showing what it means to be at the heart of their communities, bringing people together, supporting local causes and making a real difference.

❤️ England
Oxleathers, Stafford
The George & Dragon Seaton
The Old George Inn Sykehouse
The George IV, Chiswick
The Farmhouse
The Snipe Audenshaw

💙 Scotland
The Victoria Inn
The Islay Inn
The Vine Bar – Edinburgh

💚 Wales
The Halfway, Tal-y-Coed Pub & Community Hub
The victoria inn mumbles

🧡Northern Ireland
Lilys Kitchen and Bar
Bullhouse East – Belfast

Congratulations to every finalist! 👏

🏛️ Next stop: the House of Commons on 8th September.🎉

Sponsored by Diageo and supported by the All-Party Parliamentary B**r Group.

10/08/2026

🌱 It’s National Allotments Week 🌱celebrating the wonderful role allotments play in bringing communities together — growing more than just fruit and vegetables, but friendships, improved wellbeing and a real sense of belonging.

Across the UK community allotments are creating spaces where people can learn, share, grow and connect, which is why community allotments and gardens are something we’re proud to support at Pub is The Hub, and are delighted to see the positive benefits gardening/allotment projects, we have helped to set up at numerous pubs, bring to local people.

Many publicans tell us that their community allotments/gardens have created welcoming spaces that have helped bring people in their local areas together around a shared interest and purpose, which has helped to tackle social isolation and support those experiencing feelings of loneliness.

So this National Allotments Week, let’s celebrate the publicans and volunteers helping things flourish. 🌻

16/07/2026

Publican Nicola Williams of the Dun Cow Inn, Christchurch, Cambridgeshire, is ensuring the pub is a vital social hub with the launch of a new community café.

She has transformed a room into a welcoming community café, which has become a haven where people can meet, socialise and build new friendships It is already becoming an important meeting place for groups including the local Book Club, a coffee Quiz afternoon and there are plans for it to host the local Knit and Natter group.

This has been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

A village pub in Christchurch, Cambridgeshire, is strengthening its role as a vital social hub with the launch of a new community café. Publican Nicola Williams of the Dun Cow Inn has made it her mission to ensure the pub and community cafe is at the heart of its community. As the only pub in...

15/07/2026

The Foresters Arms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park is enhancing its role at the heart of its local community by offering new services to help support local people, with the opening of a community cafe and village store.

These new services at The Foresters Arms in Carlton-in-Coverdale, are providing much-needed support to villagers, as well as people from surrounding areas, as the nearest shops and cafes are a few miles away.

The new services have been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

A 17th century Yorkshire Dales pub is enhancing its role at the heart of its local community by offering new services to help support local people, with the opening of a community café and village store. These new community services, at grade II listed The Foresters Arms, which is located in the pi...

14/07/2026

A Leicestershire pub, which reopened last year after seven years of closure, has opened a new community meeting room to help support local people.

The new room at The New Storey Osgathorpe which is run by publicans Russell Boam and Michelle Bates, and features a pool table, table football, table tennis and board games, is also being used to host a wide range of groups and activites, including craft sessions and walking groups.

The new facility has been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

A Leicestershire pub has further established itself as an invaluable community hub, by opening a new meeting room designed to help bring local people together. Since being bought after seven years of closure, by publicans Michelle Bates and Russell Boam, The New Storey in Osgathorpe, near Loughborou...

23/06/2026

Pentre Legion in Rhondda, is continuing its mission to bring people together and thanks to new audio-visual equipment, the pub can now host an even wider range of activities.

The venue is focused on supporting local groups and hosting events that help tackle social isolation and loneliness, providing a vital space for connection in an area where such facilities are increasingly limited.

It already accommodates craft sessions, warm hubs for pensioners, baby showers, weddings, parties, charity events and quizzes. The new equipment means the pub has been able to introduce a monthly guest speaker event as well as hosting afternoon teas.

This has been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

The Pentre Comrades Club in Pentre, Rhondda, is continuing its mission to bring people together in its community. The venue is focused on supporting local groups and hosting events that help tackle social isolation and loneliness, providing a vital space for connection in an area where such faciliti...

18/06/2026

The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke, near Bath, has transformed its garden area and meetings facilities to support local people and help them overcome social isolation.

The garden has been transformed into an exciting space for children and families and the pub has introduced a projector and screen into its community room to enable meetings, talks and social gatherings to take place.

Purchased and largely rebuilt by members of the local community and run by publicans Hannah Randall and Charlie Rawlings, the pub now offers a warm, welcoming space for locals and visitors alike from walkers, runners and cyclists to quiz teams, comedy lovers and live music fans.

The pub has already earned widespread acclaim, with a string of awards and a coveted listing in the Good Food Guide 2025, cementing its reputation for quality food, drink and hospitality.

This has been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

A much-loved Wiltshire pub is enhancing its role at the heart of its local community by expanding its facilities to support local groups, societies and families. The Hop Pole Inn in Limpley Stoke, near Bath, has quickly become a thriving hub since reopening in 2025 after seven years of closure. Purc...

17/06/2026

A much loved Norfolk pub is expanding its support for the community of Badersfield with the opening of a new children’s play area and the launch of a takeaway service for locals.

Pub owners Nigel Finkel and Peter Sunca reopened The Diplomat Pub in August 2024 after a refurbishment bringing the pub back as the hub of community after it closed earlier that year.

To truly make the pub the heart of its community it has opened the new play area with a takeaway service to broaden its appeal to families.

This has been made possible with a grant from Pub is The Hub supported by the Department for Business and Trade.

A much‑loved Norfolk pub is expanding its support for the community of Badersfield with the opening of a new children’s play area and the launch of a takeaway service for locals. Pub owners Nigel Finkel and Peter Sunca reopened The Diplomat in August 2024 after a refurbishment bringing the pub b...

16/06/2026

It’s Loneliness Awareness Week, now in its 10th year and organised by the Marmalade Trust, with a theme of ‘Giving Loneliness A Voice’.

Loneliness can affect anyone and just small moments of connection can make a big difference.

The week is the ideal time for publicans to look at simple ways to help connect people in their local areas who may be experiencing feelings of loneliness.

Ideas include introducing a regular Chatty Table The Chatty Cafe Scheme UK or Meet Up Mondays where people can join others for a chat over a coffee, offering a table for an meetup, or hosting simple activities people can connect around such as book clubs, craft, writing or gardening groups or walk and talk or board games meet-ups.

Simple things like encouraging your team to take some time to engage with people on their own, introducing people with common interests, or having a community dining table at set-times where solo diners can sit if they want to chat.

There is lots of useful advice and tips, including in our two guides for publicans about helping to tackle loneliness, here: www.pubisthehub.org.uk/join-inn-last-orders-for-loneliness/