Bromley pub offers free Christmas meal to lonely elderly people

Free transportation to and from the meal will also be available

Pub offers free Christmas dinner for lonely elderly (Stock)

A pub is offering elderly people a free dinner on Christmas day so they won’t have to spend the holiday alone.

The Crown and Anchor in Bromley decided to host the meal for the second year in a row after last year’s celebration went so well.

According to the pub landlord Martin Lloyd, he started the tradition last Christmas when he realised that his divorce meant he had no one to celebrate the holiday with.

Rather than spending the day feeling bad for himself, Lloyd decided to use his pub to spread holiday cheer - by offering free lunches to the local elderly.

“I thought: ‘you’ve got a pub so do something good,’ so I put a little post in the local old folks home about doing free lunches for them,” he told Unilad.

He was not expecting the response however, which saw the entire community come together to help with the celebration.

In addition to donating the food, beverages, and floral displays, people also volunteered to help.

“We had people coming in and volunteering to wait tables and wash dishes, it was just a magical day, it was really really good,” he said.

The 13 elderly who attended also went home with sacks of presents each - as Lloyd said the pub was “inundated” with gifts and donations.

This year, and in the years to come, Lloyd again plans to host the Christmas meal - and provide transportation so that anyone can come.

On Facebook, the pub announced this year’s plans, which will include “soup, traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and Xmas pudding” as well as a glass of sherry and mince pie.

“Don’t be alone on Christmas Day,” the post, which has since been shared more than 63,000 times, reads.

“This is amazing,” one person wrote.

Another commented: “What a lovely thing to do.”

And, according to Lloyd, the response from people this year has been even more incredible - and he expects at least 50 to 60 people to show up.

“There’s nothing better than putting a smile on someone’s face and not having anything for it,” he said. “You can’t put a price tag on that.”