Pub offers free turkey dinners for Christmas

It is the second year running that the Alexandra pub has made the offer to help out locals during the festive period.

It launched the initiative of a free meal and a drink to customers last year and found 29 people took up the offer. In previous years, the pub had invited those on their own for a free drink to celebrate in the pub.

“Last year, we decided to extend it to offering people a Christmas meal. It was really successful and we got a lot of publicity,” said manager Sarah Dore who runs the Young's pub with her husband Mick. 

“People were not sure about what we were doing. We were saying if you are on your own for Christmas come and see us and we would like to offer you a Christmas meal and a beer,” she said. 

The pub had been unsure how many people would take them up on the offer because it does not take booking for the event.

“It was lovely. We had people on their own because family were far away and we had a 23-year-old guy that had missed his train on Christmas Eve so he came and saw us,” she said.

The pub seated people together in groups of  three or four so they could chat and enjoy their Christmas lunch. 

Dore said that many of the pub regulars helped the pub with fundraising and donations. She also thanked the pub's suppliers who donated items such as barrels of beer to help out.

"It just seems to touch a chord. There is also a bit of kick back against commercialism and what Christmas is all about,” said Dore. “There are too many people on their own and it can be a very difficult time.”

The pub will also be offering the traditional Christmas dinner to paying customers and the venue is already fully booked.

“We are in a unique position that we have a really big pub with lots of different bars and we have some good kitchen space so we are able to do it,” she said.