Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue (More4)
The great British pub is going the way of steam railways. Once, they were the mainspring of the nation. But pretty soon, the only survivors might be the ones restored and run by enthusiasts.
Comedian Jon Richardson donned a hard hat to help bring The Plough at Fadmoor back to life, in Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue.
He and about 180 other volunteers are contributing both cash and hard graft to get the place open again after 15 years, with the help of a £297,000 government grant.
It’s a noble enterprise, one that promises to boost the tourist industry for this village on the edge of the North York Moors.
But it’s bonkers that the Labour government is providing aid to defunct pubs, while driving hundreds out of business with sky–high business rates, taxes and levies on booze and food.
Jon wasn’t making any political points here. In fact, he wasn’t saying too much of anything. For a man who insists his devotion to the pub tradition is bordering on the religious, he was very careful not to let any unguarded words slip.
Comedian Jon Richardson (pictured) donned a hard hat to help bring The Plough at Fadmoor back to life, in Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue
it’s bonkers that the Labour government is providing aid to defunct pubs, while driving hundreds out of business with sky–high business rates, taxes and levies on booze and food
The closest he came to mentioning his recent split from wife Lucy Beaumont came at the beginning, as he motored across the moors.
‘I really love country pubs as meeting places, places people go when they’ve lost someone, places they go when they’re looking for someone,’ he said – and added: ‘Not to give too much away about my private life.’
Filming on this four–part series began only five months ago, last September, when Jon was already a committed supporter of the renovations.
He doesn’t live in Fadmoor, and didn’t explain how he first became involved. Nor did he say how much of his own money he’s sunk into the project.
‘It’s a while since I’ve been here,’ he remarked, as he walked into the derelict building. ‘Never seen it with the scaffolding down. I thought it might be finished by now.’
That’s such an odd way to open the show that I had to check I hadn’t missed an earlier episode.
The producers were clearly hoping for shots of Jon, a perpetually nervous man, getting stuck into building work.
That joke worked well for about five minutes, as he struggled to don a hi–viz jacket and then wielded a sledgehammer like a nun with a croquet mallet.
Lifting old roof tiles off a toilet block scheduled for demolition, he gurned and squealed at the lurking spiders.
But the volunteers soon tired of assistance from a media luvvie, and sent him to get the lunch order from a sandwich shop. That flummoxed him: they didn’t do vegan rolls.
The rest of the hour was filler, as he visited a brewery, met a few locals and (for reasons that weren’t clear) helped out on a chicken farm. Are vegans allowed to collect eggs?
