The Royal Oak and Castle in Pevensey has been showing that pubs can offer so much more than just food and drink by successfully hosting a seven week digital skills course run by the Barclays Digital Eagles Team. —Wealden Council, 7 December 2016
Running once a week for 90-minutes the free sessions covered all the basics including how to get online; using the internet securely; how to search for content; online shopping and keeping in touch with people.
“The Barclays Digital Eagles Team and the Royal Oak & Castle have made these sessions a tremendous success,” said Councillor Roy Galley, Cabinet Member for Economic Development. “The sessions are a great way for locals to build confidence using computers and the internet as well as a chance to socialise.”
“Wealden has already been asked for another course at this venue and we’ve got courses at two other Wealden pubs in the pipeline for 2017 and I’m looking forward to many more similar successes,” continued Councillor Galley
“Barclays provided the training and we provided free tea and coffee with cake,” said Debby Fitton, landlady at the Royal Oak and Castle. “We had around a dozen regulars for the whole course and many of the attendees were new to the pub.
But it’s not about making more money – for us it’s about investing in our future as the centre of the community.”
“One lady who came each week said that she had never walked into a pub on her own before. She lives alone and was very nervous about coming in for the first time – but now that she has, she says that she would feel confident enough to pop in for a coffee and sit in a corner with a magazine. That just goes to show the positive impact that courses like this can make.”
The digital skills course is delivered as part of Wealden District Council’s scheme with the not-for-profit Pub is The Hub organisation to support rural public houses. It allows them to explore how, by delivering or hosting services that the local community needs, they can bring in extra customers and strengthen the role of the pub as the centre of rural communities. Any licensees and pub owners interesting in getting involved with the scheme by hosting a similar course or one of the wide variety of other supported initiatives should visit www.pubisthehub.org.uk for more information.
