A Southampton landlady is offering pensioners a bowl of soup for just 10p (From Daily Echo)

A Southampton landlady is offering pensioners a bowl of soup for just 10p

1:44pm Monday 19th January 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(9)

A bowl of soup and a roll for just 10p.

This is the deal one pub is offering to make sure pensioners get at least one piping hot meal a day and a bit of companionship.

It is this bargain and other things Lynne Ryan does to help her fellow man that makes the landlady of the Woodman in Lordshill the fourth person to be recognised in the Daily Echo Good Neighbour Campaign.

Royal Mail postmen and milkmen from Dairy Crest have already backed the campaign and pledged to look out for the welfare of elderly residents on their rounds.

Landlady Lynne said: “My husband Mike and I wanted to do what we could to help older people fight off the cold weather and thought that pensioners are probably suffering more than most with the credit crunch. We realised that every Sunday we have loads of fresh vegetables left over that weren’t used for the roast dinners so we thought it would be ideal to make a delicious soup that would be hot and nutritious and would encourage older people to come in, sit in the warm and have a chat with us and the locals.

“We want our pub to be at the heart of the community like a pub should be and that is what the pensioner’s special is all about.

“We definitely support the Daily Echo campaign – it is a shame more people don’t look out for their elderly neighbours.”

The 10p soup would normally set a customer back £2.95, but it is not the only pensioner’s special with the pub offering a Sunday roast or fish and chips for just 99p.

As well as the cheap deals, Lynne calls older locals if they have not been in for a while and said if enough pensioners come in she will look at running bingo nights and other events to make it a place where the community’s elderly neighbours can all feel welcome.

Age Concern Southampton healthy eating project manager Ian Silver said: “This is absolutely fantastic that they would do something like this – I am blown away to be honest with you.

“This will not only benefit pensioners by giving them a hot meal but also those who worry about their fuel bills will be able to spend the afternoon in a nice warm pub and it even saves on waste.”

See our Good Neighbour campaign