New Brakspear’s Giving Back scheme to focus charity support on bees and local causes

IT’S FAMOUS for its Honey Bee ale, and now a brewer is preparing to do more to protect the insects that help pollinate plants.

Henley-based pub operator Brakspear is launching Brakspear’s Giving Back, a new initiative to support worthy causes chosen by its 120 pubs through a match-funding scheme, and to upscale the company’s long-standing efforts to protect Britain’s bee population.

It will be funded by a £25,000 annual contribution from Brakspear.

Requests for match funding will be welcomed from any pubs within Brakspear’s leased and tenanted estate or its Honeycomb Houses managed division, who have already raised money for a local charity or good cause.

And the brewer’s commitment to bees has seen it instal 12 beehives at its pubs, including The Cherry Tree in Stoke Row, and The Hare & Hounds at Sonning Common

Professional beekeeper John Farrell of Chiltern Bee is on hand to ensure the colonies thrive in their new homes.

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Brakspear will sell the honey to raise money to go back into maintaining and potentially expanding their beehives.

Brakspear chief executive Tom Davies said: “Our pubs are all about people: the people who work in them, drink in them, and live in the communities around them.

“The aim of Brakspear’s Giving Back is to support the health and well-being of these people, and we are looking forward to receiving applications from across the estate.

“By structuring our donations in this way, we know that we’ll be making a difference to the charities and causes that our licensees and their teams know are important to their local communities.

“At the same time, we are expanding our support for Britain’s bee population, a cause that’s been close to our hearts for some years; the Brakspear and Honeycomb Houses logos feature a bee and many of our pubs have beautiful gardens that rely on bees. Our pub teams, customers and communities have been thrilled by the installation of our beehives, and that engagement will only grow as they watch the colonies develop through the seasons and see home-grown honey appear in our pubs.”