St George's Day holiday campaign gathers pace

by Claire Hu A trade campaign calling for St George's Day to be made a national holiday is gaining ground, with the biggest number of pubs this year expected to celebrate the event. A survey by Bedford brewer Charles Wells of leading pub companies shows thousands of outlets across the country are planning events and promotions to mark the England patron saint's day on 23 April. This year it falls on a Friday, and Charles Wells predicts pubs could net an extra £14.1m if it was celebrated in the same way as Ireland's St Patrick's Day. A survey by Punch Pub Company among 3,500 licensees shows St George's Day is now rated the third most important date for business-building events, after St Patrick's Day in first place and major football games and Hallowe'en in joint second. Nigel McNally, sales and marketing manager at Charles Wells, said: "Let's unite to convince the authorities that the English people do want to celebrate St George's Day, and put to the sword the myth that we're an unpatriotic country." Punch is making nearly 500 St George's Day point-of-sale kits available to licensees. Marketing director Geoff Brown said: "We firmly believe that calendar events are grossly underused as a means of attracting customers into pubs, and St George's Day is increasingly a high profile event." Greene King Pub Company is distributing petitions to its pubs calling for St George's Day to be made a national holiday. It comes after one of its managers, Tony Bennett, of the Otter in Drayton, Norwich, was refused a St George's Day bar extension by magistrates who said it was not a special event. He was instead given an extension for charitable reasons. Bennett said people from all over the country had rung him in support, including from an 80-year-old George Cross medal holder who will be guest of honour at his celebrations, which will include providing ethnic English food and a Forties sing-a-long. "The support I've had shows how people want to celebrate being English," said Bennett. "It's also an opportunity to celebrate the great British pub, which is in decline.