The Blue Anchor

11/07/2026

02/07/2026

So apparently the Government has solved hospitality.

Not by cutting VAT.
Not by reducing business rates.
Not by helping with wages, energy bills, insurance, tax, stock costs, licensing fees or the general daily joy of trying to keep a pub alive in 2026.

No no.

They’ve decided pubs can stay open until 5am on Monday morning for a football match.

FIVE. IN. THE. MORNING.

On a Monday.

Because clearly what the British pub trade has been crying out for is not financial help, not support, not a fair crack of the whip…

But the opportunity to pay staff all night so Dave from accounts can shout “COME ON ENGLAND” into a half-empty pint at 4:37am.

Marvellous.

And don’t get me wrong, we’ve embraced the football at The Anchor. We’ve shown games, we’ve cheered, we’ve groaned, we have a sweepstake 😂

But staying open until 5am?

Absolutely not.

The Anchor is a pub, not a hostage situation.

We are not keeping staff awake all night, burning electric, paying wages, managing drunk people who peaked at midnight, and then cleaning up like we’ve hosted the fall of Rome… all because someone in Westminster thinks this is “supporting hospitality”.

That is not supporting hospitality.

That is a publicity stunt in a waistcoat.

To the Government, here's a wild thought for you:

If you want to help pubs, stop bleeding us dry.

Cut VAT for hospitality.
Sort business rates.
Stop taxing every breath we take.
Make it easier to employ people.
Recognise that independent pubs are not bottomless money pits with fairy lights and a card machine.

We are community spaces.
We are employers.
We are tax collectors with beer taps.
We are counsellors, cleaners, bouncers, unpaid tourist information desks and occasionally emergency therapists.

And we are knackered.

So yes, enjoy the football.

But come closing time, we’ll be locking the doors, turning the lights off, and going home like people who have work, bills, families and knees that no longer operate after midnight.

If the Government really wants to save pubs, it can stop chucking us gimmicks and start chucking us a lifeline.

Until then, The Anchor will not be open until 5am.

Because unlike Westminster, we live in the real world.

10/06/2026

So we now have a table arcade machine! Again, like the pool table, FREE to play to paying customers of the pub as it was again bought with the extra money raised from the beer raffle we hold every week. This will ALWAYS go back into the pub for the benefit of customers 😊👍🏻

HUGE thanks to Turbo for collecting it for me

16/05/2026

HAPPY NATIONAL PUB DAY!

Today's the day! Come with your voucher and claim your free pint of 'Telegraph'!!

Whichever pub is your local, support it. We are a 100% wet led pub (but do have awesome snack selection 😂), the true traditional kind and there aren't a lot like us left, use it or lose it as they say!

FREE pool ALL the time, not just certain days.

We look forward to seeing our regulars today and hopefully a few new faces, who may come back.

Emily is our 'bar steward' today, don't leave her stood there with a full barrel of free beer going unused 😂

13/05/2026

NATIONAL PUB DAY

This year The Telegraph has been campaigning to save Britain's pubs, chronicling the economic pressures crippling the hospitality industry as an average of four pubs per day close in 2026.

The Telegraph has created National Pub Day to celebrate the essential role pubs play in local life and attract people back into local pubs. For communities up and down the country, pubs remain at the heart of local life, providing a place to meet with family and friends or enjoy a quiet drink at the end of a long day.

To mark the celebration, The Telegraph has teamed up with Renegade Brewery to create its own 'Telegraph Ale', a classic English bitter. This limited-edition brew will be served at 300 pubs across the country on 16 May and we have been chosen as one of them!

Support us on The Telegraph’s National Pub Day (Saturday, May 16th) and claim your free pint of Telegraph Ale here.

Telegraph Ale will be available at participating pubs on Saturday, May 16 while stocks last

04/05/2026

Go on, it's a bank holiday, so we'll be open from 1pm today

07/04/2026

Tony thinks he's the Lord of the Manor but we all know that I am really