The money, which is more than has been made in any other year, was raised by Greene King’s 1,600 managed pubs, its breweries in Bury St Edmunds and Dunbar and support centres.
Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie said: “It’s hard to put into words just how proud I am of every member of the Greene King team who has gone above and beyond this year to raise this incredible amount.
“Not only has it been a phenomenally challenging year to run a pub through a variety of restrictions and challenges, but to then go out in addition to doing the day job and put on charitable events and undertake epic challenges truly is inspiring”.
Heart of the community
Mackenzie said the fundraiser was a reminder of the role pubs played in communities and highlighted how closing pubs has repercussions not only on companies and customers, but to the wider causes and communities they support as well.
Earlier this year, Greene King passed the £10m milestone of money raised for Macmillan since the partnership began in 2012.
Macmillan Cancer Support chief executive Lynda Thomas said Greene King employees and customers continued to “amaze” with their fundraising efforts.
“We are extremely grateful for their continued support and for raising such a phenomenal amount in an especially challenging year,” said Thomas.
Passionate partnership
She continued: “At Macmillan we rely almost entirely on donations from the public and passionate corporate partners like Greene King. Without this generosity we simply wouldn’t be able to fund the Macmillan professionals and services that support people with cancer in communities across the UK when they need it the most. Thank you.”
Fundraising for the charity has accelerated in recent years, with £1m raised in the first two years of the partnership, which rose to £3m in 2017, £5m in 2019 and then more than double that in less than three years.
Latest figures from PubAid estimate pubs raise around £100m annually for UK charities, showcasing the important role pubs play in supporting good causes.
