Pub to host fireworks-free party for dog owners

Pub manager Kayleigh Blake with her dog Pullo

A pub is creating a dog-friendly refuge on Bonfire Night weekend, to provide owners and their pooches with a quiet space away from fireworks.

The Inn at Shipley, near Wolverhampton, will be setting up extra dog-friendly tables and selling canine treats for its “bonfire-less bash”, on Saturday.

Pub manager Kayleigh Blake, said her team wanted to host an event where customers would not have to “worry about the fact that their dog would be cowering”.

The pub will be raising money for two local animal charities, Monarch's Mutts Dog Rescue and Wings and Paws Rescue, with a raffle and its self-styled "floating lemons" challenge.

Ms Blake said she got married on Bonfire Night and it was her “favourite holiday of the year”, but she had found the annual event more challenging since getting a pet.

“I’ve been a dog owner for the past decade and it’s really tough,” she told BBC Radio WM.

Kayleigh with Rosie, who belongs to her deputy manager Matt Anslow

Ms Blake said that Matt Anslow, the pub’s deputy manager whose dog Rosie spends a lot of time at the pub, came up with the idea for Saturday’s event.

The pub will increase from five to 15 the number of tables that can accommodate dogs.

For the floating lemons challenge, punters will win a free pint if they can balance a 20p piece on the fruit, which is in a bowl of water.

“I’ve worked here for longer than I care to tell you, but I’ve never seen it done. I’m yet to give out that free pint,” Ms Blake added.