Adnams gives pubs green MOT

Suffolk brewer Adnams is running a green audit on its pubs with a view to making them ecological 'hubs' of their communities.

The EcoLocal audit is one of a number of initiatives Adnams is putting into place to reduce its carbon footprint.

The pilot for the project is the Bell at Walberswick in Suffolk.

Pub manager Toby Dillaway said: "We are spreading the green gospel to a very local level. Hopefully people are taking ideas away and the word is spreading.

"Our customers talk to us about ecology issues and they are genuinely concerned to do something about it."

Examples of how the 600-year-old pub has reduced its carbon footprint include:

• Using checklists to make sure lights and radiators are off when rooms are not in use

• Changing all lightbulbs to energy saving bulbs

• Recycling 100 per cent of bottles and cans

• Using line-caught fish to help maintain fish stocks.

Toby said the pub has already cut its energy use by up to 15 per cent.

Adnams hopes the project will help pubs lead the way in their own villages and towns by giving residents and other businesses tips on how they can cut their fuel consumption.

Adnams head of corporate affairs Emma Hibbert said: "The project is in its early stages but we are looking at pubs which we have identified as potential green leaders within their communities.

"Each pub is different and has different opportunities and restrictions which affect them. We want customers to be part of what we are doing and for them to be able to take ideas away which they can use in their homes or workplaces to limit their own energy use."

Other green Adnams initiatives include the construction of an anaerobic digester - a waste processing plant which will break down material such as food waste to produce methane - which will then be used to heat the brewery.