Panto pulls out of Arms

The boycott of the Lewes Arms, put in place after owners Greene King’s announcement that they would stop serving Harveys there, has been hugely successful in stopping people going to the pub. Most locals have moved their custom to other bars and pubs that do serve the local ale, such as the Elephant and Castle, The Lansdown and the Constitutional Club. The pub had an extremely quiet Christmas, and keg delivery men were overheard last week commenting that the pub had ordered just three kegs of beer, instead of the 30 or so they would normally get through in a week.

The latest blow for Greene King is the announcement on Monday that the Lewes Arms Dramatic Society (LADS) would this year perform their annual fund-raising pantomime ‘on tour’ (ie in the Constitutional Club) after 29 successive years of putting it on upstairs at the Lewes Arms. Roz South, LADS’ spokeswoman, commented in their press release: “We stage our annual pantomime in order to support charitable causes and over the last 29 years we have raised more than £60,000. This fundraising is at the very core of our activities and the LADS have come to the reluctant decision that it would be very difficult to stage a successful pantomime at the Lewes Arms this year.”