Giving Back will be funded by a £25,000 annual contribution from the company with requests for matching any funds raised for charity welcomed from pubs within Brakspear’s leased and tenanted (L&T) estate or its Honeycomb Houses managed division that have already raised money for a local charity or good cause.
Applications will be reviewed by a team of eight committee members, including three licensees from the L&T division and head office personnel, chaired by Alexa Davies, wife of chief executive Tom Davies.
A dozen beehives installed at pubs
Additionally, sums from Giving Back will go towards bee conservation, which Brakspear has supported for some years.
The Oxfordshire business has recently installed 12 beehives across three L&T sites and two Honeycomb Houses, working with professional beekeeper John Farrell of Chiltern Bee to ensure the colonies thrive in their new homes. The company is also looking to sell honey produced by the bees to raise money to go back into maintaining and potentially expanding their beehives.
Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said: “Our pubs are all about people: the people who work in them, drink in them, and live in the communities around them. The aim of Brakspear’s Giving Back is to support the health and wellbeing of these people and we are looking forward to receiving applications from across the estate.”
Honey produced already
Brakspear installed beehives at Honeycomb Houses, the Frogmill near Cheltenham, and the Lion near Bicester, and at three tenanted pubs in its heartland around Henley-on-Thames at the Cherry Tree in Stoke Row, the Chequers at Berrick Salome and the Hare & Hounds at Sonning Common.
Unusually for new colonies, the Brakspear bees have already produced some honey. Farrell said: “This is an unexpected bonus because it usually takes colonies a year to settle in before they yield any honey. We’re pleased because it means the bees must be happy in their new pub garden homes and will continue to produce honey.”
