The Black Dog is a friendly pub offering hearty home cooked food and drinks, in a quaint country village  located in Waltham Chase, near Southampton.

The licensee of the village favourite, Peter Airey, has been the driving force in implementing sustainable change to help secure the long-term future of the pub, both economically and environmentally.

Peter began by focusing on energy reduction methods, replacing the previously used incandescent light bulbs with LED’s, resulting in an efficiency improvement of up to 85%. With an overall investment in more energy efficient appliances in the kitchen, he has helped reduce the expenditure even more. To aid with the checking of such measures, Peter have implemented a new monitoring technology system to ensure himself and the team are constantly aware of how much energy each appliance uses. 

Altering his team’s sustainability behaviour has been one of Peter’s main areas of focus. By constantly monitoring their work and providing coaching along the way, he has helped change operations in a positive way, meaning that actions which re-emphasise the sustainable mission of the pub have become second nature to his staff.

As a hub within the local community, when questioned on how important it is to set an example to his customers, Paul explains the need to recognise the influence he can have on his visitors:

“It is extremely important as we are a very busy business and extremely influential in the local community.  We need to set the right example.”

Going forward, Paul and the team are in discussions with their landlords regarding the potential installation of EV charging points. He hopes that this will convince both customers and staff alike to choose a more sustainable method of transport when travelling to the pub.

We are extremely pleased to recognise the work that Paul and the whole team at The Black Dog are doing and are delighted to add them as yet another BII Sustainability Champion.

You can view The Black Dog’s website here.