Stella Artois unveils Love Your Local campaign

Stella Artois is launching a major new initiative - Love Your Local - to celebrate and reward the unique community spirit of pubs in London.

The winner of the Love Your Local award, which recognises excellent community relations, will receive prizes worth £8,500.

Three runners-up will also receive cash rewards and all successful outlets will benefit from national and regional media coverage in The Evening Standard​.

"Stella Artois is recognising and rewarding those pubs that champion community cohesion and tap into community pride both through the nature of their environment and the support they provide to customers - both local residents and people working in the area,"​ said Inbev UK and Ireland president Stuart MacFarlane.

"The 'Love Your Local' programme emphasises that pubs remain very much the pillar of the community and are playing a positive role in shaping the nature of the local environment."​

Licensees can nominate their outlet by contacting a freephone hotline - 0800 013 7982 - which they can also use to request a Love Your Local promotional pack.

The pack includes beer mats, posters, window stickers, table talkers, menu inserts, t-shirts and badges will be available to outlets to encourage consumers to support their local's campaign.

Consumers can vote using freepost postcards available in participating outlets or by registering their views online at www.loveyourlocal.co.uk​.

To stand a chance of making the shortlist, outlets must generate a number of stories from their customers outlining why they love their local.

The scheme could be rolled out on a national scale after the London pilot project.