Election 2010: won and lost in the bars of Britain
Anyone who has ever had a beery political discussion in their local knows how important pubs are to the political scene. And that's a fact not lost on licensees up and down the country.
The Fulflood Arms in Winchester is one of a number of pubs asking punters to vote with their pint - rebranding the same beer three times in the colours of each of the main political parties. The pub uses the information from consumption figures to come up with an "ale poll", which runs for the duration of the election campaign, with results available each morning.
Meanwhile, the Crown Inn in Woolhope, Herefordshire, is to hold a "cider election" for up to 500 locals. Each local will be given a free cup of cider, before being invited to throw their paper cup in a bin for the appropriate party. The Crown Inn's owner, Matt Slocombe, then plans to present the winning party's leader with a selection of the 18 locally-produced ciders and perries the pub offers.
And several JD Wetherspoon pubs have been showing the party leaders' election debate live in their pubs, with the decision to do so left at the discretion of individual managers. Meanwhile the Moon on the Square in Feltham, west London, recently played host to an impromptu visit by Tory Mayor of London Boris Johnson. "A lot of our pubs are on the campaign trail because they are in the city centres and tend to be busy, so politicians just tend to wander in," a Wetherspoon spokesman said.