I've nominated the wonderful Harrow Community Pub in Stockbury for the 2024 Community Pub Hero awards.
Ever since the pub was taken over by the community back in 2017 it's been a hub for the whole village, and when I went last Friday morning there was a coffee morning and a zumba class in at the same time!
While the Stockbury flyover is a great investment for Kent, the roadworks over the last 18 months have been so tough for local businesses.
Places like the Harrow, MB Farms, and Tomsett Kent MOT Centre need our support, and if you can support them please do.
You can read all about the awards here, and you can read my full nomination below.
'As an MP you never tire of seeing the difference pubs can make to their local communities; whether it’s putting on events, backing local sports teams, or simply providing a space for people to come together.
We are lucky in Faversham and Mid Kent to have so many wonderful pubs locally and all of them make a difference to their community in some way or another. However in terms of being set up first and foremost for the community, the Harrow is unique. It is the only pub in the small village of Stockbury, just off the A249 between Maidstone and Sittingbourne.
Back in 2016 it was listed for sale by the local brewery, and – determined not to lose it – the village came together and fundraised £350,000 to buy it. Since then the community owned pub has become the vibrant hub of the village, hosting regular weekly and monthly events for the village and surrounding areas.
They’ve brought the village together for big national commemorations and celebrations, including in 2018 for The Great War anniversary, the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 and the recent Coronation in 2023.
They have put on monthly Seniors lunches (with lifts available for those who need them, and an eye kept out for those who are vulnerable), a Ladies Lunch (with men welcome too!), a Tractor Club lunch, Fish’n chip nights, as well as Quiz, Music and themed evenings.
They host internet drop-in sessions to assist those with no internet access (or slow broadband!), and provide WIFI and free books/games/dvd swap based in the corner of the pub.
And they provide a meeting place for clubs and societies, including hosting a cricket team, creating a new Petanque piste and team in the pub garden, as well as hosting a ‘drop in’ for those who just want to catch up with neighbours or make new friends. It’s a warm space where people can come, even on their own, be safe and warm, enjoy a cup of tea, sit with a book or just enjoy a chat and are made to feel welcome.
And perhaps most impactful of all, is that since becoming a community pub the gypsy and traveller community has enthusiastically joined in with the pub activities and events – providing a huge boost to community cohesion locally.
The last 6 years haven’t been easy for the Harrow. Like other pubs they’ve first had to survive Covid, and then the increase in energy and other costs. For the past three years they’ve also suffered enormously from a major road project right on their doorstep. It’s meant the pub losing a lot of trade and made chef and staff recruitment difficult as a result. Yet still they carry on.
They make a difference for local people every single day, and this award would be the perfect recognition of the hard work it’s taken to get here.'
