Fake bus stop boosts pub’s sales

A pub landlord took matters into his own hands to boost his pub’s footfall by erecting a fake bus stop on his doorstep.

John Hawkridge bought the Gallipot Inn in Sussex in 2013 to save it from closure.

Having found a discarded bus sign in a hedge near to his pub, Hawkridge spotted an opportunity to bring punters directly to his door.

Installing the sign outside his door, Hawkridge dubbed it the Gallipot Stop, adding a comic image of a bottle on wheels.

While wholly unofficial in its origins, people assumed the sign was real and began waiting for busses outside the pub. What’s more, buses started to stop.

The retired vet-turned-landlord told the East Grinstead Courier: “It is just so funny – one of those silly things that has worked out so well. We are now getting customers bussing in from Tunbridge Wells and Crawley.

“We bought the Gallipot about two years ago and I just thought it would be good to have a bus stop by the pub. I put it there, I put in my own sign, and a couple of customers started queuing up. . . and buses started stopping.”

Metrobus is now petitioning East Grinstead County Council to officially recognise it as part of the bus route.

Nick Hill, a spokesman for Metrobus, said: “For many years, buses have stopped on request on a “hail and ride” basis near the Gallipot Inn and we have been asking the county council to install fixed stops to make it clearer to potential passengers that buses stop there.

“Unfortunately the council has been unable to do this. While the stop provided by the pub is welcome, it hasn’t been formally recognised by the council and is therefore unofficial, but buses continue to stop in the vicinity.”