WATCH: Shropshire pub boss raises a glass to adapting businesses in national TV advert
A Shropshire pub manager helped raise a glass to businesses adapting during the coronavirus crisis by appearing in a national TV advert.
Richard King from the Bulls Head Inn in Chelmarsh, near Bridgnorth, has appeared in commercials for Lloyds Bank.
The pub has been offering weekend takeaways during lockdown.
The advert starts with Richard giving a big smile to the camera while the voiceover says: "Here's to the landlord offering takeaways," to the backdrop the song Look After You, a staple of recent Lloyds ads.
The Times and The Telegraph also carried full page ads with pictures of Richard - and his dad John, owner of the pub, joked that fame had gone to his son's head.
"He's already asked for a trailer and a limousine to chauffeur him, and an appearance on The Graham Norton Show," he laughed. "It's been an interesting experience. The feedback has been amazing."
John added: "Lloyds asked us to do some local advertising and we had a feature in the Shropshire Star about doing takeaways. They approached us to see if we wanted to do something nationally and decided they wanted Richard as part of the advert.
"He was in a full page in The Times and The Telegraph and now he's in a TV advert. They sent a top photographer. One of our customers, Paul Delmar, is a retired pilot and an award-winning photographer, and he helped too.
"We always had a great relationship with our corporate manager, and he said before the lockdown that he would do everything he could to help us through.
"We've been doing a few takeaways at the weekends and had key workers staying in some of the self-catering accommodation. It's just a shame that we've had all this nice weather and our beautiful gardens would normally be full of people. We're looking forward to having people back."
