A PUB in Hexham has received an award for their services to the community.
The Grapes Hotel received a Mini Craft Union Award for services to the community on Wednesday, May 4.
Manager Carla Rowley and her partner Lee Briggs have ran the pub for a total of 16 years. Their key staff include Kayleigh, Hayley, Tarah, Lauren, Aiden, Harriet and Emily, and Carla says they have all been there for years.
"Lauren's the baby, but even she's been there for a year," Carla said.
The Craft Union is part of the brewery which owns The Grapes Hotel.
There are five key criteria a pub has to meet to be able to win a Mini Craft Union Award.
These include community, diversity, honesty, humour, and 'win win', which refers to the success of a pub reflecting on the wider Craft Union.
Carla said: "It's been a pretty rough couple of years with restrictions, masks, outdoor seating, and table service, so it's a massive pat on the back for the girls especially. We've been recognised for what we've done and done well."
She said: "We all look after each other, we call it 'The Grapes Famalam'."
"We checked up on each other during lockdown, we did shopping for some of our customers, we did a book exchange swap, and we've done work for Gateway into The Community and fundraising for Ella's Hope, and collected clothes to go to Ukraine."
"We raised £636 for Ukraine at a charity night the other week. Vacant, a local punk band, played for free, and we had a donation from Northumbria Windows who gave us £100 in cash."
The pub are continuing to take donations for those who are need in Ukraine.
On Wednesday, May 4, The Grapes team went to a divisional meeting in Leeds held by the Craft Union.
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The pub had been chosen as one of 16 pubs in the North East region to attend the event.
Carla praised her staff, and said: "They deserve every bit of praise they get. Out of the whole North East region they were picked for what they've done, they're just community champions really."
Six regional representatives attended the event, while The Grapes represented the North East.
"The customers are great, everyone's got each others' backs." When Carla was unexpectedly busy, her customers collected glasses, cleaned up and wiped tables to help out.
"During the second lockdown, we were ringing round to check on people and they were doing the same for us. Customers were asking staff to go on walks with them and everyone was generally looking out for each other."
"We were chuffed to bits with the award. At Christmas time we all went down with Covid, pubs were closing over Christmas because they didn't have enough staff. Nine out of our 11 staff got Covid, but we only closed for half a night, we had one early night to recharge our batteries for the New Year."
"The team works really, really hard, it's a tough trade to be in at the moment," Carla said.
The Grapes Hotel has previously been recommended by Hexham Courant readers as one of the best beer gardens in the area, and as one of the best pubs to watch football.
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