The Garden House in Norwich has been shortlisted in the Community Hero category of The Great British Pub Awards 2021.

 

During lockdown, The Garden House’s pub doors may have been closed but as always, the operators – Jonathon and Tanya- continued to support their community.

 

Most recently they have launched an innovative food bank scheme to ensure their community did not go hungry, focussing efforts on local families in need, as well as soup kitchens and emergency food banks across Norfolk.

 

Working with Thomas Frank’s, they have delivered over 18,000 meals, helping to feed those in need. With Only A Pavement Away (OAPA), they have handed out over 14,000 meal pouches and 300 Winter Warmth Flasks to the homeless in Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The meal pouches included a variety of dishes as well as tinned food and cutlery. They were shared across different local initiatives including St Martins Hostels; Norwich City Council’s Pathway Scheme; Tribal Trust Soup Kitchen in Great Yarmouth; Project Nova; Soul Church’s soup kitchen and the Salvation Army. They are now working with OAPA on their “Fill a Flask” campaign to launch a network of water refill stations for the homeless across Norwich.

 

Jonathon Childs, operator the Garden House, said: “For us, it is not just about donating food and helping those in need, it is bringing our community together and supporting each other. We are most proud of how our community has rallied and helped us in all of our initiatives.  The overwhelming support from local businesses, farmers, local media and from Norwich City Council has made it all possible – we all united for such an important cause, when it counted.

 

“We are humbled to be the instigators of such a huge network – we are but a small cog in a big wheel of kindness.”

 

Since December 2020, The Garden House has also been working with FareShare, who have most recently donated 2,600 ambient pouch meals, 2,160 Hula protein drinks and 2695 breakfast bars to support the work they are doing, these have been distributed to hostels and soup kitchens.

 

Jonathon continued: “I am delighted that we have been shortlisted in this year’s Great British Pub Awards – this is a fantastic achievement in itself.  It has been a challenging year for everyone and I would like to thank all our customers for their continued support.”

 

The Great British Pub Awards recognise, reward and celebrate the fantastic work pubs do for our country and their communities. With over entries spanning across ten categories, the shortlisted pubs will now go through a second round of judging to be crowned the overall winner.

 

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