Villagers launch ‘naked’ calendar to save pub

A group of villagers have appeared in a nearly-naked calendar, with only everyday objects to protect their modesty, in a bid to save their local pub.

Mr November?

Red Lion Reloaded is a community organisation set up with the aim of reopening The Red Lion Pub in South Clifton, near Bristol, which has been closed since 14 January 2015.

The group’s aim is to raise enough money to buy the pub for the community, selling shares in the venture, and re-open it as a traditional tenanted village pub.

One money-making scheme has been the production of a Calendar Girls-style calendar, with supporters of the Red Lion posing without clothes and with only everyday objects to protect their modesty, with men and women aged in their 20s to 70s taking part.

Speaking to the Newark Advertiser, music teacher David Chambers, 50, who appears in the calendar behind a double bass, said: “It was a fantastic idea and it has been fun doing it. We have got orders coming in thick and fast. They are selling like hot cakes.

“People think the calendar is great and it’s got a lot of people talking about the pub and interested in the activities of Red Lion Reloaded. We will go to great lengths to save this pub.”

Pubs have been closing at an alarming rate in the UK. At its worst, CAMRA reported that 31 pubs were closing their doors in the UK every week. This rate has now slowed, dropping from 29 pubs per week in the first six months of 2015 to 27 in the latter half of the year, and to 21 a week as of August 2016.

CAMRA has blamed cheap supermarket prices, high beer taxes and the high rents and wholesale beer prices charged by  pub-owning property companies for the continued closure of pubs.

Despite the rate of closures slowing, CAMRA chairman Colin Valentine said the number of pubs closing was still  “alarming and unacceptably high”.

“We’d urge the government to continue to work to address what people see as the key issues threatening pubs,” he said. “We’d also urge people to continue to support their local pubs as much as possible.”

To buy a Red Lion Reloaded calendar and for more information on the group’s campaign, click here.