Celebrity Traitors star Joe Lycett fights hospitality closures with free pub drinks

Comedian Joe Lycett is single-handedly fuelling our Friday night out by generously putting £100s behind the bar of some of Britain’s best boozers.

Shockingly, The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) announced earlier this week that hospitality businesses across Britain are closing left, right and centre. The trade association caps the number of losses between January and September at around 300.

Fans of BrewDog, Brewers Fayre, and Beefeater will already be aware of the gaping holes they’ve left, but all is not lost—some sites have recently been saved by competing companies.

Meanwhile, outside of the Great British Pub, chains including Patty&Bun, ‘healthy’ fast-food purveyors Leon, and even Franco Manca and Pizza Hut have boarded up sites.

Joe Lycett, currently competing on the second season of The Celebrity Traitors, is leading a one-man army to save the pub, urging his fans to get to their local this weekend for a drink on him.

(Channel 4)

Speaking about the decline of the hospitality industry on his new pub-broadcast Channel 4 show, Love From The Lycett Arms, he said: “I do want to talk about pub closures; it’s a serious problem, up and down the UK.

“British pubs are closing at a rate of two a day and it’s very sad. (…) Keeping money in the local economy is important.”

The 38-year-old then announced he’d put £100 behind the bar of 30 UK pubs in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Gloucestershire, Worthing, and other areas of Britain.

Brits are encouraged to head down to one of the institutions today (Friday 16 October) to have a pint or two ‘on Joe’s Tab’.

He added: “There are 45,000 pubs in the UK; go and give them some love.”

“Next Friday, I’ll be putting a little bit of money behind the bar in all the pubs you’ve just seen. I hope you can have a drink on me.”

(BBC)

The Old Barge, one of the establishments benefiting from Lycett’s tab, took to X to write: “Soooo the amazing @joelycett and the fabulous team @thelycettarms have put a tab on for all you lucky drinkers. Get yourself down here Friday night for a chance to have a drink on Joe.”

Duncan Randall, who runs The Dog House in the village of Smeeth, near Ashford, told Kent Online that it was a ‘great opportunity’ and that he was thankful that his pub had been recognised.

Dexter & Jones on Princess Street, Knutsford, owned by ITV reporter Katy Rickitt and former Coronation Street star Adam Rickitt, is another well where punters can get drinks for free this Friday.

Full list of bars you can get a pint on Joe Lycett

• Bristol Beer Factory
• Dexter and Jones – Knutsford
• Mikkeller Pub – Shoreditch
• Preston Park Tavern – Brighton
• Red Lion – Wombourne
• Signature Brew – Haggerston
• Stage and Stem – Cardiff
• The 8 Sail Brewery – Heckington
• The Anchor Inn – Oldbury-on-Severn
• The Black Prince – Northampton
• The Bluesdawg – Mapperley
• The Butchers Arms – Merthyr Tydfil
• The Chase at The Old Barge in Hertford
• The Crown – Accrington
• The Crown – Cuddington
• The Crown and Greyhound – Dulwich
• The Crown Inn – Harbury
• The Dodo – Hanwell
• The Dog House – Kent
• The Grapes – Bath
• The Hallamshire House – Sheffield
• The Miller – London Bridge
• The Old Bike Store – Worthing
• The Old Ivy – Clerkenwell
• The Old Monkey – Manchester
• The Peveril Of The Peak – Manchester
• The Red Hart Inn – Gloucestershire
• The Selden Arms – Worthing
• The Somerset Inn Micropub – Chard
• The Unicorn – Oxfordshire