Pubs to join Ant & Dec on prime-time TV

Pubs are going on prime-time Saturday night TV thanks to a £1m sponsorship deal between Greene King and ITV.

The brewer and pub company is sponsoring the new series of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, with a series of ads appearing before, after and during the programme. The last series of the show averaged 7.8 million viewers.

Pubs from across the Greene King estate, including former Belhaven sites, will feature in the advertisements.

Greene King chief executive Rooney Anand told The Publican: "This is part of our plan to build Greene King from being associated with pubs in East Anglia to being associated with pubs across the rest of the country that people can be proud of. It fits in very well with the philosophy of The Publican's own Proud of Pubs campaign."

A £4m scratchcard promotion will be run hand-in-hand with the campaign in Greene King pubs across the UK.

Mr Anand said that, as well as attracting new customers to Greene King, the deal would inspire pubs across the Greene King estate.

"It sends a very strong message to our licensees that they too could feature in something like this," he said.