Residents take to bar at care home with in-house pub

A care home in Warrington has opened a pub for residents, complete with working beer pumps and quiz nights. The Train Inn, a detached building in the grounds of St Oswalds House in Warrington, also plays host to karaoke and gin tastings for residents and their guests.

In fact, the guests might get the better part of the deal: not being a licensed premises, the Train Inn can ask only for a donation in return for wine, beer, spirits or soft drinks. Residents’ drinks are included with their fees.

The Train looks the part, with flock wallpaper, a real bar and corner seats. Some of the furniture and fittings were donated by local people after an appeal on social media, while beer mats and drip trays came from car boot sales and charity shops.

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At a grand opening last month, home manager Ria Percival pulled the pints herself. She explained the rationale: “Our residents like to go to a local pub, but we were constrained as to how many our care team could accompany at any time.

“By creating our own pub, everyone who wants to pop into their local can do so … and should anyone need care assistance, then it’s right at hand.”

St Oswalds is not the first UK care home to branch out into inn-keeping, the BBC reports. A home in Middlesbrough built on the site of an old pub opened a bar for residents earlier this year, while another in Carrickfergus created a sports bar for resident football fans this summer.

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