Lizzie Jennings is the landlady of The Drum and Monkey pub
near Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire. Lizzie Jennings is a brilliant,
brilliant woman.
So what makes Lizzie Jennings and The Drum and Monkey
special? Well. The Drum and Monkey is your typical pub with a nice garden. But
they’ve cleared away all of their garden furniture to make room for six large
tents and a porta-potty. Why have they put those there? For their patrons.
Yes, The Drum and Monkey will, this Christmas season, be offering
free tent-based accommodation to those who’ve had the extra pint and shouldn’t
be driving. And that’s not even the end of it. They’re also offering a free
breakfast to their happy hungover campers. And as English pubs are renowned for
their hangover-busting, life-giving, generally excellent breakfasts, this’ll
sure get those campers started off on a good day post binge.
Why are they offering this? It’s to stop people
drink-driving, which is fantastic; the less drink-driving we have, the less
accidents we have. And further reason to offer this service; Lizzie wants to
offer it free because it’s the season of goodwill. How sweet is that?
Of course, drink-driving charities have still found reasons
to whine. Whilst they’re pleased she came up with a “clever idea to get people
talking about it”, they’re worried that people will still be unsafe to drive in
the morning. And that is a possibility. But at least after a night’s sleep and
a good breakfast they’ll be an awful lot closer. Some have also suggested that
it will encourage people to get smashed. But it’s a country pub, out in a very
rural area. That’s not where you go to get smashed. Even those old gents you
see in some pubs from 12pm-12am working their way through pint after pint only
do it in areas where they can walk home after. As the landlady says, “Tents can’t
be reserved… It's for people who think they may have had one pint too many and
don't want to risk it”.
The scheme’s running until the end of the year, and it’s a
fantastic idea. Admittedly, I’m not 100% on camping in December, especially
given alcohol lowers your body temperature anyway, but aside from the slight
possibility of hypothermia, this is genius.
Big ups to Lizzie Jennings.
Words by Ari Carrington
