Caroline Nodder: Charity begins in the pub

Charity begins at home, so they say. But they're wrong.

Charity actually begins in the pub.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say that there is no other group of businesses, individuals or organisations in this country that raises as much every year for charity as pubs do. According to The Publican's estimates, the total annual figure raised by pubs is likely to be in the region of £165m.

That's a staggering amount of money, and proof, if it were needed, of the level of contribution pubs are making to their communities and society as a whole.

This is an important message, and one that we as an industry need to start shouting people about.

Our Prime Minister David Cameron has prefaced many of his announcements recently with mention of "The Big Society". By this he implies that we all have a responsibility to society as a whole to contribute to making it better. This is a lovely bunny-rabbits-frolicking-in-the-sunshine-type theory but to make it happen in reality you need so much more than a speech in Westminster.

What Cameron has so far failed to do to back up his bunny rabbits is highlight the elements of our current society that should be encouraged if we are all to reach this Utopia.

I would like to put forward the first element. The pub.

The Publican hosted its first ever Annual Charity Pub Quiz last week. And I was overwhelmed not only by the huge number of people who turned up (more than 160 in total) but also by the amazing generosity in the room. We raised almost £4,500 for WaterAid in one night. And before you question that figure, I hasten to add that these were not 160 of the industry's 'fat cats'. These were a broad mixture of licensees, barstaff, PR people, CAMRA members, brewery execs, journalists - all sorts.

While they happily parted with hard-earned cash for a very worthy cause, they laughed, jeered, tried to cheat, ate, drank and, I hope, went away having made some new friends.

And this kind of event is being run day in, day out at pubs the length and breadth of the country. Communities are coming together, bonded by the common charitable cause, and that kind of interaction - the kind you don't get in the aisles of a supermarket or through the flickering screen of a web chatroom - is critical to the frolicking-bunnies of our shared hopes and dreams.

My concern at the moment is that while Cameron talks of a positive change in society, his other policies - restrictive licensing proposals being a prime example - look set to further damage pubs and the Little Society they represent.

I genuinely don't think Cameron can even begin to build his Big Society without our help. And specifically I don't think he can build it without the support of the Great British Pub.

So what I am asking him to do is engage with our trade on this. Pubs are pivotal to society, they should be viewed as part of the solution, they are a great dip test of the public mood and they are social hubs from which the Big Society can grow. Treat them with the respect they deserve.