Raise your glass to happy hour!

The regulars enjoy good food and good company

It’s lunchtime at the Windmill pub in Hornchurch and the bar is buzzing with happy punters tucking into scampi and chips, sponge puddings and pints of real ale. Groups of friends huddle around tables chatting and laughing, and there’s not a spare seat in the house.

That’s because it’s pub club day, a monthly event organised by Havering Age Concern as part of their Active Living Project, which was funded by BIG. Run by older people, for older people, the pub club is proving a real lifeline for the Havering community, where over a third of people are over 55.

Beryl and Barbara, both 66, have swapped loneliness for the local, with the pub club opening up a whole new lease of life for them. And 78-year-old Babs was terrified to meet new people after losing her husband to cancer, but she’s now a regular adrenaline junkie after doing her first bungee jump at 77! Cheers to that.