Admiral Taverns Awards Colchester Pub After Raising £30,000 For Charity In One Year
Admiral Taverns has named The Silver Oyster in Colchester as its ‘2025 Leased & Tenanted Community Pub of the Year’ after raising £30,000 for various charities over the last 12-months.
At the end of July, Ian Ronayne – Managing Director at Admiral Taverns – attended The Silver Oyster to present the licensees, Peter Gibbins and Amethyst Winkler, with a certificate, flowers and a bottle of champagne to celebrate this fantastic achievement.
Peter and Amethyst came to the helm of The Silver Oyster in 2022 with a wealth of knowledge and expertise having spent the last 20-years running another nearby local pub which they remain in charge of. As passionate, community-minded locals, they have worked tirelessly and invested approximately £90,000 into the pub to ensure it offers residents a vibrant social hub that brings people together and supports all aspects of local life.
Since taking over three years ago, the licensees have successfully raised over £100,000 for several important causes, including local residents in need, Macmillan, Guide Dogs, Dementia UK and many more.
Most recently, the couple held a family fun charity day – complete with live entertainment and a BBQ – to raise money to have lifesaving automated external defibrillators (AED) mounted outside various local businesses for emergency use. The event was a huge success, raising a phenomenal £3,500 which is enough to purchase four AEDs.
Peter Gibbins, Licensee at The Silver Oyster, said:
“We feel genuinely honoured and extremely proud to have been given this award. Everything we do is with the community in mind and it’s been a real privilege spending the last few years at The Silver Oyster. We’ve truly loved every minute of it and are so grateful for all the support we have received. None of this would have been possible otherwise so from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who has shown up for us – it means the world!”
In addition, Peter and Amethyst hold regular community events – including private functions upon request – such as free weekly coffee mornings for the elderly, charity boxing days and monthly live music evenings at least once a month. On Christmas Day in 2024, the licensees hosted 20 elderly residents for a four-course festive lunch and gave them each a gift as part of their mission to combat loneliness within the community.
Ian Ronayne, Managing Director of Admiral Taverns, commented:
“On behalf of the whole team at Admiral Taverns, I would like to thank Peter and Amethyst for their phenomenal contribution to their local community. I’m truly in awe of their fantastic efforts and delighted that we’ve been able to recognise their hard work.
As a business with community at the heart of everything we do, we are committed to celebrating the licensees going the extra mile and making such a tangible difference to the lives of their local residents. To me, this initiative stands testament to that, and I hope it goes some way in showing our appreciation to those going above and beyond.”