Janet Dooner is and independent licensee at The Railway Tavern, Stratford London. She has been the Chair of Newham Pubwatch for over 20 years and it currently has 40 members including pubs, clubs and the local theatre.
Initially she was a member of a smaller local Pubwatch but she instigated moves for it to become a borough wide scheme. She has over the last 20 years built up good relations with the police and local authority although occasionally their operational role and perceived lack of support has led to lively debate. She invites different guest speakers to the schemes regular meetings and is constantly encouraging local pubs, clubs and other licensed premises to participate.
Her premises are adjacent to the Olympic Park in Stratford and when London was awarded the games, she immediately recognised both the opportunities and the potential problems that were likely to arise for her membership. She has been working tirelessly with partner agencies to address these issues, including the Olympic Delivery Authority which is responsible for developing and building the new venues and infrastructure for the games. The new large Westfield Shopping Centre led to similar liaison. Awareness of the terrorist threat has featured highly in discussions.
More recently and following some disturbances in and around premises on ‘match days’, she formed a Football Pubwatch sub-group comprising of 10 member premises which are located close to the West Ham United Football ground. During the inner city riots in the summer of 2010, prompt communication between members enabled them to remain alert and responsive to the developing situation.
Paul Wotton of National Pubwatch says:
“Janet is tireless in her approach to her business and her commitment to the Pubwatch scheme. Her activities have ensured that the Pubwatch thrives and her approach to partnership work has been highlighted most recently by the setting up of the Football sub-group and also embracing the unique demands that are continuing to arise from the development and use of the Olympic site.”
