Magistrates not listening to public opinion
Regional brewer and pub estate owner, Charles Wells Ltd, has backed Norwich Licensee, Tony Bennett, in his fight with magistrates to obtain a St George?s Day licence extension and believe they?re not listening to public opinion.
The Bedford brewer has run a 5 year campaign to have St George?s Day declared a National holiday, spearheaded by its Wells Bombardier brand, dubbed England?s Patron Pint. Over 250,000 people have visited its website aimed specifically at the licensed trade and almost 85,000 have signed on online petition to gain recognition of St George?s Day as a Bank Holiday.
The crusade has been sustained by research undertaken for Charles Wells by The Future Foundation which showed that only 1 in 5 people in this Country knows when St George?s Day falls and 1 in 4 couldn?t even name George as England?s Patron Saint. However, 62% of people living in England thought that the English should do more to celebrate the day and 79% said they would celebrate if the Government proclaimed it as a National holiday.
When asked who would throw the best celebratory party, 45% of respondents thought the local pub landlord or landlady, trailed by Sir Elton John (16%), the Queen (16%), the Beckhams (14%) and the Blairs (1%). This suggests that Tony Bennett has public opinion on his side, if not the Norwich magistrates.
"Sadly, many magistrates don't see St George's Day as a special occasion," said Nigel McNally, Sales and Marketing Director at Charles Wells. "Even though licence extensions are regularly granted for events like St Patrick's Day, there is an unwillingness to allow the English to celebrate their patron saint.
"As part of the Wells Bombardier Value of St George Campaign we have always suggested that licensees add some form of charitable event to their applications. This shouldn't really be necessary because St George's day should be regarded as special enough in its own right to merit automatic granting of an extension. As Tony Bennett has proved, however, it can help you achieve your goal. Trading results show that St George's Day is the 3rd busiest day of the year for publicans and it's inconsistent for magistrates not to acknowledge the impact and support that the English public has for celebrating the day".
The Wells Bombardier research also highlighted a serious economic impact of fully honouring St George?s Day. By becoming a more celebrated occasion, the day might generate as much as ?38.8 million in additional consumer expenditure. Furthermore, if pubs were to open for an extra two hours on the day, it?s estimated the licensed trade might reasonably expect a ?14.1 million boost.
Wells Bombardier will be leading St George?s Day celebrations within the licensed trade and the Bombardier Bus will be touring London as a focal point for those who do regard the day as special.
-ENDS-
www.bombardier.co.uk
www.thevalueofstgeorge.com
For further information, please contact:
Kate Hempsall
PR Manager, Charles Wells
01234 279216
07976 941958
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