Vicar comes to the rescue of community pub

The Revd Becky Elliott, Vicar of Holy Trinity and St James on the edge of Malvern will soon be serving behind the bar in her West Malvern local, the Brewers Arms.

The pub closed back in June and looked unlikely to be reopening, so a group from the community have raised over £400,000 to buy it. They are now looking for a permanent landlord or landlady, but in the meantime a group of volunteers will be taking it in turns to do a shift behind the bar – including Becky!

Becky said: “There is a strong community feel in West Malvern and it’s been great to see everyone coming together to get the pub reopened. The volunteers have done an amazing job in doing it up and I’m delighted to be able to chip-in and do my bit!”

The Brewers Arms will officially reopen on Saturday afternoon. It is a 190-year-old small stone-built pub perched high on the western slopes of the Malvern Hills with fabulous views. Mark Haslam, a local resident and pub-user himself, has stepped in to be the temporary landlord. He said: “It’s been marvellous to see all the effort that has gone into getting the pub fit to re-open, and now we’re going to further rely on the volunteers’ help to run it day-to-day.”

Becky will be doing her shift on Thursday evenings. She continued: “When I mentioned I’d love to help out, I thought it would be a great way of getting to know people and being more visible in the community. I’ll be wearing my dog collar while serving behind the bar and when people want a conversation about something that’s going on in their lives or need the church’s support, they’ll know me. I hope it will help to build a stronger connection between the church, local school and pub in a traditional village way.”