South Shields pub The Lookout launches Christmas gift appeal to help struggling families this festive season

Michael Ward, who recently took over The Lookout on the Lawe Top, is showing the true spirit of Christmas as he appeals to the community to give generously this season.

From Friday, November 23, he will be collecting donations at the pub, in Fort Street, of affordable, unwrapped gifts such as selection boxes or toiletries to ensure youngsters in South Shields have something in their stockings on December 25.

The gifts will then be passed onto social services and given out to struggling children and families in the week beginning December 16.

“The Lookout is a local community pub and we look after everyone from the area,” said the landlord.

“There’s a lot of parents and grandparents who are struggling, especially at this time of year. We’ve seen the rise in demand at food banks, so we wanted to hold a collection to help them.”

Michael continued: “The Lawe Top is like a little village in itself, everyone knows each other and there’s a real community feel, we want to get everyone to collect as many presents as we can.

“It doesn’t have to be expensive, even if they just spend £1 or £2, it’s better than nothing, so that the children and teenagers have got something to open.

He added: “I have already got a big box of presents that have been donated.”

The pub will also be hosting a free Christmas party for the community on Saturday, December 14 with old fashioned children’s games and entertainment.

Michael, who took over the 19th Century pub at the end of the summer, says the once-booming Lawe Top pub scene is on it’s way back to its glory days.

“It’s been amazing since I took over, I couldn’t have asked for a better response. The Lawe Top pub scene is doing excellent.”

The Lookout will be collecting gifts underneath its Christmas tree up until December 16. Gift donations must not be wrapped or they can’t be accepted.