No poppy, no pint at West Country pub

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Poppies rule: customers must wear poppies this weekend to enter the Three Lions pub (image: Sean Donnelly)

Punters must wear a poppy this weekend or face being turned away from the Three Lions, Bristol.

The pub encouraged its customers to buy poppies and commemorative pins at the bar throughout the autumn, with donations going to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal.

But wearing a poppy is a requisite for a pint this weekend – as the nation marks a century since the end of the First World War.

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The pub is no stranger to patriotic displays. Image: Jaggery Geograph

No entry warning 

“Warning, [there's] no entry to the Three Lions this weekend without a poppy on display – fact”, licensee Sean Donnelly tweeted this week.

Ensuring customers show support for the remembrance period has been important to the pub for many years, Donnelly explained to The Morning Advertiser.

“We try to raise as much awareness as possible in support of our armed forces by encouraging patrons to wear a poppy with pride each remembrance period,” he said.

“This has grown hugely over the past few years and seems to be growing year on year.”

Commemorative bench 

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The Three Lions' remembrance bench

A commemorative bench in the pub’s garden is inscribed with ‘lest we forget’ and a red poppy.

The Three Lions has chosen to sell pins marked with ‘2018’ alongside paper poppies because some customers tried to re-use poppies from previous remembrance days.

Patriotism features heavily in the pub’s decor, with its exterior covered in a huge St George flag design during World Cup fever this summer.

It changed its name from the Three Horseshoes to the Three Lions during the Euro 1996 football tournament and is a Bristol City match day pub.

Some pubcos – including Greene King and Brewhouse & Kitchen – have marked the centenary commemorations with limited-edition beers.