PubAid launched to celebrate charity work

A website dedicated to highlighting the great work pubs across the country do to support great causes has gone live.

Licensees are now being urged to log on to www.pubaid.com​ and shout about the charities they support.

The initiative is being backed by trade groups and industry heavyweights in a bid to show the positive role pubs play in communities. It is also hoped the website will help provide national and regional journalists with positive pub material to write about, rather than focusing on binge-drinking and anti-social behaviour.

The website will include a running total of the funds pubs have raised for charity - the starting figure is the £24,000, raised at last year's ALMR Christmas Lunch.

A PubAid spokesman said: "Almost every pub has a charity pot near the till, with the vast percentage doing much, much more for their chosen good causes. It is the work of the licensees, the customers, the staff and often the company, which goes entirely unrewarded and unrecognised.

"All we are aiming to do is put the fantastic goodwill, which many thousands of licensees and their customers do every day, on the map for all to see.

"We are building a prize pot to reward various pubs, such as the most innovative fundraising ideas or the highest money raised.

"The great thing about PubAid is that it is not costing the pub a penny all we are asking every single pub to do is register what they are doing, how they are doing it and what they aim to raise during the coming year."

The site will also include posters and sample press releases for licenses to download and use to send to their local newspapers.

There are also plans for a PubAid week to focus media attention on the licensed sector community.