Gosport pub The Jolly Roger offers free roast dinner and rum for veterans on Remembrance Sunday

The Jolly Roger, in Priory Road, is in the third year of this tradition, with more military families than ever booking a table on the national day of reflection.

Landlady Hayley Ballard, who took over the pub in August 2018, said that usually 20 families are present – but the pub has already enjoyed more than 40 bookings from military personnel.

The 39-year-old said: ‘Quite a big chunk of our locals are either ex-military or serving military, so we thought it would be good thing to bring in. It’s always gone really well.

‘I have a feeling it’s going to be very busy this weekend. It will definitely be our busiest year.

‘I think we’ve all been in this Covid situation and it’s nice now that we can get back out.’

And a glass of rum will be raised to the veterans known to the pub who have sadly passed away in the last 18 months.

Hayley said: ‘I got a message through our Facebook page that one of the gents who came in the first year, he didn’t make it through Covid. His family will still come down. He was in the Royal Navy all his life and told us lots of stories when we first met him.’

‘The day gives (the older veterans) a real uplift. Everyone shares their stories.

‘Quite a few of the veterans are on their own – so it could be the first time they have had a meal with people in a week.’

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Now the landlady is hoping trade remains busy, as the pub is still recovering from a bruising Covid-19 pandemic.

The mum-of-two, who runs the pub owned by Punch Taverns, said: ‘We are £250,000 under target – that’s what my sales should been had we been open or without restrictions.

‘It sounds like a crazy amount, but for a pub, it’s not the largest loss I have heard of.

‘And at the last count £18,000 worth of beer had to be destroyed. That was the most gut-wrenching day.’

The offer is available to those with a military personnel card this Sunday from 11am to 6pm.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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