Emma has been the general manager of the Lord Derby Pub in Lytham St. Annes since March 2013 and has been the Chair of Fylde Pubwatch for over 3 years. The scheme currently has 51 registered members and is closely aligned to the larger Blackpool Pubwatch. The schemes robustly promote the reduction of violent crime, theft, anti-social behaviour and illegal substances.
Emma’s committee consists of a 6 local pub managers who meet on a regular basis to deal with incident forms and discuss projects they would like to deliver locally. The full membership meet on a quarterly basis. During these meetings Emma has arranged for regular presentations and briefings on such things as age verification, drugs, conflict management and accredited apprenticeship in licensed hospitality.
She has been responsible for delivering a number of local initiatives. For example in February 2015 in partnership with the council she launched their ‘Raise the Bar’ initiative to help raise the standard of working practices in meeting the four licensing objectives. Emma delivered training to 20 licensed premises who had volunteered to participate and be assessed by the local authority licensing department who independently scored each premises over the following weeks. The local Superintendent subsequently presented certificates to participating premises commended the Pubwatch scheme for delivering the initiative.
In April 2015, Emma approached North West Ambulance Service about defibrillators in licensed premises. She then involved a number of older, regular customers who were holding weekly meetings in her premises and together than ran a charity event to raise funds. Since that date Emma has raised sufficient funding to purchase a total of 4 defibrillators and training has been given to Pubwatch member’s staff and members of the community.
Chris Hambly Environmental Health Manager says:
“Since taking over Chairmanship of the Pubwatch in 2014 Emma has rejuvenated the scheme, taking the time to actively seek new members, welcome them to the borough and assist in identifying those persons who have been banned from entering licensed premises.”
“At a time when police and local authority resources were scarce she in conjunction with local Pubwatch Coordinators created their own locally tailored accreditation scheme. The scheme has been a great success with numerous premises participating.”
“In both my current role and previous capacity as a licensing officer, I welcome Emma’s support and the contribution she makes to the licensed trade in Fylde and the positive way she seeks to promote the licensing objectives”.
Mike Schoteten Community Beat Officer says:
“I have known Emma for a number of years and can say that she is very professional friendly and approachable individual. She has gone out of her way to help me in my work as the St.Annes beat officer. For example she has played an integral role in promoting the use of the local radio network which has helped to improve communication between police and licensed premises but also has wider community safety benefits”.
“She is widely regarded within the local community for her on-going work with the Pubwatch scheme which has had a positive effect on making St. Annes a safe and friendly environment to visit”.
Miss Patricia Higginbottom the coordinator of the Lord Derby friendship group says:
“I have been coordinating the friendship group at the Lord Derby for nearly 5 years. Our group can now boast over 140 members who are between 50 and 90 years of age and Emma has been very supportive of our needs and helping us to gain recognition for our activities through the local press”.
“She has helped us run a number of charity events at the pub which has allowed us to raise money for such things as the Chernobyl children’s charity and Donna’s dream house which provides a holiday facility for terminally ill children”.
“Some time ago Emma told us about the Pubwatch initiative to place defibrillators in a number of Fylde pubs and she asked if we would help with fundraising. My first jokey response was yes of course we would, because at our age we might need it! Our group wholeheartedly supported the idea and ran raffles to raise the sum of £500 as a contribution to purchase the first piece of equipment”.
“A number of our members, together with the management and staff of the Lord Derby attended training given by on how to use the defibrillators and provide CPR. I believe that having the equipment and training, not only benefits the pub but also our group of 140 elderly members together with nearby residents and retail premises”.
“Emma is a credit to herself and is an outstanding member of the pub trade and the community of St. Annes”.
