New film is ‘a love letter’ to British pubs, an institution under threat
They are the lifeblood of many communities, but tens of thousands of pubs and breweries across Britain have closed down since the 1970s, with thousands more falling victim to Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions. Now, leading British film-makers have taken inspiration from the near loss of their own community pubs to produce a feature film that they describe as “a love-letter to family, community, real ale and Britain’s forgotten rural traditions”.
Writer-directors Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft – who made Fisherman’s Friends, one of the most successful British independent films of the past decade – are about to start shooting the uplifting story, which also explores serious issues, from the dying trade of pubs to mental health.
Titled Mother’s Pride, it is a comedy drama about a failing pub, a divided community and a grieving family whose lives are changed by brewing real ale and entering the Great British beer awards.
Moorcroft said: “Pubs are really important for communities, bringing people together, which is especially pertinent with Covid as they tackle loneliness and social isolation. But on our location scouting, we were visiting pubs that have been empty for two years – and will never become pubs again. Each is filled with history and memories. It’s really sad.”
Leonard said the losses were “particularly resonant when we’re all lacking human connection” because of Covid: “That’s why our film feels important to make now.”
Filming begins in May in a Somerset village pub. James Spring, the film’s producer, said: “Somebody very valiantly tried to run it for a number of years and then, when Covid and lockdown came, that was the moment to call it a day.”
Noting that some of the lost pubs had survived for hundreds of years
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