TIMES
THE
AUTUMN 2019 | ISSUE 10 | BROUGHT TO YOU BY BRITAIN’S OLDEST PUB | YEOLDEFIGHTINGCOCKS.CO.UK
OKTOBERFEST German beer and music festival comes to YOFC this autumn
IT’S PANTO TIME And this year it’s Sleeping Beauty. Oh yes, it is...
‘I HAVE NEVER HEARD SUCH ANGER’ Lib Dem’s Daisy Cooper on Boudicca, Brexit and Boris
Campaign launches city pub-crawl map ANGIE CRONIN REPORTS
T
HE Save St Albans Pubs campaign is looking to put the city and district’s pubs on the map this autumn with the launch of a Give Our Pubs a Break pub crawls. The map, which is available in print form from all of the participating pubs as well as online from the Save St Albans Pubs website, includes five themed pub crawl suggestions featuring 49 pubs. The map is also available by scanning the QR code on the back of the printed version, which takes people automatically to the app. The pub crawls are all named after bands from the city and include: the Friendly Fires Pub Crawl, which features Ye Olde Fighting Cocks; the Fixx Pub Crawl; the Enter Shakari Pub Crawl; the Zombies Pub Crawl; and the Feeling Pub Crawl, also known as the designated drivers’ crawl as it includes pubs outside of the city centre. Alicia Meredith, events co-ordinator at the White Lion on Sopwell Lane, has been one of the driving forces behind the map. “Some of the pubs
YOFC open mic star takes centre stage at festival
LOCAL girl and friend of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks Asha Banks, 15, with her band Angels N’ Bandits, rocked the Pub in the Park stage in Verulamium Park in September. Also a star of West End musicals, Asha started her career singing in the YOFC’s open-mic nights when she was just nine. Full story, page 7 were talking about putting on a fringe festival around Pub in the Park so that the pubs that were not involved directly with the event could feel part of it. That’s when we came up with the idea of the pub crawl map,” said Alicia. “We thought it would be a great way to promote all the pubs as well as talk about the Save St Albans Pubs campaign, which is working hard to highlight the challenges that pubs are facing just to survive because of the crippling hike in
business rates.The Pub in the Park event provided the perfect springboard for us to launch the map. And with so many pubs in the city, we couldn’t just come up with one pub crawl, so we came up with five. “Advertising from participating pubs is how we have been able to fund the printing and the app. The adverts on the map give pubs the chance to promote special offers or events.” Looking ahead to the future, Save St Albans Pubs will be
working with local artist, Hannah Sessions on a Christmas crawl map to tie in with the Save St Albans Pubs Very Local Charity Christmas, all part of the Enjoy St Albans At Christmas Programme. The Save St Albans Pubs campaign is a not-forprofit group fighting a hike in business rates. It is calling on the Government to implement business rate reform to stop pub closures. Since 2016, St Albans has lost 15% of its pubs. savestalbanspubs.co.uk
If you have a news story for The YOFC Times or are interested in being a YOFC Times partner, email loudbird@btinternet.com
