Arts project INN CROWD, www.inncrowd.org.uk, who bring high quality live shows to rural pubs and other licensed venues, has become a member of the Rural Services Network.

The national project, which is supported by Arts Council England, sees INN CROWD work with some of the UK’s top spoken word and live literature artists and performers to provide venues, including rural pubs, with professional, live entertainment.

INN CROWD, which was established in 2017, is delivered by six regional touring partners - Carn to Cove, Take Art, Arts Alive, Artsreach, Spot On Lancashire and Live and Local.

Dawn Badland, director of Applause Rural Touring who run INN CROWD, said: “We are delighted to have become a RSN member. We have been bringing live performances to rural pubs, to help support them and people in their communities, for over six years. INN CROWD provides the opportunity for people living in villages, including those without transport, to enjoy quality live shows at an accessible price.”

She adds: “We have an exciting programme of shows, featuring a wide range of talented artists, lined up for 2023 and are looking forward to bringing more wonderful live performances to rural areas this year.”

Ian Ballantine, publican of The Kings Head in the village of Orford, Suffolk, hosts three INN CROWD shows a year. He said: “The nearest places to us to go to the theatre are some distance, so having a show on at your local pub is a much easier place for local people to see something.”

Ian added: “To have the ability to have art performed in a small and intimate environment is so different to what most people have experienced and it gives your customers a unique experience.”

The Dog Inn in the village of Belthorn, Lancashire, has also been hosting INN CROWD shows for a few years. Yvonne Brown, secretary of this community-owned pub, said: “The shows widen the exposure of the pub and help attract different people to it. After they have visited for a show people often come back to visit the pub at another time.”

Simon Colquhoun, publican of The Gaggle of Geese, Buckland Newton, Dorset says the reasonable price of the shows is a selling point to locals.

He said: “People are more willing to take a chance on coming to a show as INN CROWD have made it more affordable for everyone.”

RSN member Pub is The Hub helps support INN CROWD’s work, including collaborating on projects, such as pub poetry initiative ‘Winter Warmers’, Winter Warmers - Inn Crowd, which helped support artists, publicans and people in many pubs’ local communities during the Covid-19 lockdown in early 2021. The project saw artists, commissioned by INN CROWD,  write poems about pubs which were printed on postcards, which publicans used to help bring cheer to local people during this challenging time.

INN CROWD also partnered with Pub is The Hub and writer/poet David Attree to produce an impactful poem for ‘Loneliness Awareness Week’, titled ‘Call Last Orders for Loneliness’, Loneliness Awareness Week 2021 - Inn Crowd to encourage publicans to help tackle loneliness in their local areas.