PUB fan Richard Hawley is fighting the decline of the local.

The Examiner has run a series of articles highlighting the plight of community pubs around Huddersfield.

Now Hade Edge man Richard has launched a website to promote neighbourhood bars.

He explained how itsourlocal.com works.

Richard said: “Any pub can register with us. We just need to spend around an hour with the manager to show them how to use the service.

“They then have their own customisable website which can include their food menus, wine lists, and details about their beer gardens and function rooms.

“They can also detail coming events like quizzes or live music and upload pictures into their pub’s rogues gallery, which gives an additional flavour of the venue.”

Richard added that the website also encourages customers to sign up.

He said: “They can build up a profile with pictures and videos. They can also receive text updates from their pub. It could be something like an invite to a surprise birthday party or simply a message from the landlord telling them that there’s some free nibbles on the bar between 5pm and 7pm.”

The site was launched last month and has already signed up 30 pubs and 300 drinkers around Holmfirth. Richard is trying to expand into the Huddersfield area and now features some pubs in Slaithwaite and Linthwaite.

“We’d like to be everywhere eventually,” he said.

He came up with the idea.

Richard, who is self-employed, said: “At the time I did a lot of commercial travelling and always tried to stay in a pub B&B. It was a nightmare trying to find suitable places in areas I didn’t know.

“And if I ended up in a hotel I struggled to find a pub nearby which was showing that night’s football.”

Around the same time the Government announced that smoking would be banned in public places.

Richard said: “It started sounding alarm bells in my head, even as a non-smoker. My local pub is the Boot and Shoe Inn in Scholes.

“I think it’s one of the best pubs in the world. But I could see that the ban could have a massive impact on how it and other local pubs were going to be frequented.”

He believed a website would help attract more drinkers into the pub.

Richard said: “I felt more people would visit the Boot and Shoe if they knew what was going on. There’s Sky Sports, nibbles at the bar, free food sometimes and a great quiz night.”

For more information visit www.itsourlocal.com.