Elderly residents of a care home do not have far to go for a pint at their local – as a pub has been built especially for them, named the Caring Arms.
Complete with a painted sign welcoming customers, the traditional bar has wood panelled walls, glass tankers, pints on tap and even dominoes and cards.
It was the brainchild of staff at The Grange, a care home in Tewkesbury, Glos, and residents watched as a ground floor dining room and conservatory was completely transformed – and even got to choose the name.
And to make the experience even more realistic, a corridor was fitted out with paving, hanging baskets, a telephone box and street lighting.
To remind them of the outside world, a bus stop was built in the care home.
Group manager Natalie Bonner said: “We wanted to enable residents to enjoy the whole experience of going to the pub.
“It really does feel as if they are leaving the care home and going ‘somewhere else.’
“That’s really important for residents to enjoy that change of scene and environment.”
The well-stocked bar has bottles of red wine stacked all along one wall, or residents can choose to have a small sherry or malt whiskey.
And the tables and chairs are spaced far enough apart that elderly people with Zimmer frames can comfortably get between them.
Facilities manager Daniel Cronk said: “We really have built a pub on our premises.”
Pub regular Nina Errington, 89, said: “It’s lovely, very nice, especially with a white wine spritzer.
“It’s company and when you get to my age, what people want is company.
“I used to go to the pub sometimes with my husband when I was younger, never as much as I go now, I go at least a few times a week.
“I enjoy sitting and doing my puzzles at night, now I can do them in a pub.”
And John Watson, 86, said: “It’s brilliant and the food is lovely.
“Delightful, my favourite drink is a gin and tonic, I used to be engaged to and married to a publicans daughter.”
