GINGER Dog owners Pamela and Ben McKellar were devastated when they had to close the pub’s doors in last month’s lockdown.

The pub in Kemp Town, Brighton, was forced to pour its beer down the drain and board up its windows to weather the coronavirus storm.

“It was really sad, there were lots of tears,” said Pamela.

“Closing down was very emotional, saying goodbye to people who work together every day.

>>LIVE CORONAVIRUS UPDATES HERE

“It’s hard but you’ve got to do the right thing and get through it all together.

“We boarded up The Ginger Fox [restaurant] in Hassocks and started boarding up the Dog but we ran out of wood and the merchants had closed.”

Luckily regulars Lucy Beacham and Helen Hanson had other ideas.

The long-term College Place neighbours were gutted to see their street’s social hub shut its doors.

The Argus:

So designer Lucy, 48, and events manager Helen, 47, decided to turn the shuttered pub into a living mural for the NHS.

“I know the staff there had a real sense of loss when it closed,” said Helen.

“It was sad enough to see it shut so the thought of it being boarded up was too depressing. I love The Ginger Dog.

“I said to Lucy ‘We need to do something’ so we decided to make a mural for our NHS.

“We’ve got an NHS worker living down our street who we clap for every day. It’s a happy street.

“Because we’re so close to the Royal Sussex County Hospital hopefully the workers will see it as they go to work.”

The regulars have brightened up the boards, painting rainbows and heartfelt messages to NHS workers.

But they made sure to stay two metres apart and paint considerately, as Helen put it.

“We were social distancing and doing it in a very considerate fashion, we were careful,” she said.

For Helen the impromptu project comes at a difficult time for her business.

“I run an events company so I’ve been hit really hard by this, all of our bookings have gone,” she said.

“We’re in a very sad situation so hopefully this will brighten things up.”

Other College Place residents have also joined in by adding their own rainbows to the colourful display.

“Rainbows are still coming through my letterbox and each morning I’m going up and putting them on,” said mother-of-two Lucy.

“I’m still doing a little bit of work as a designer so I wanted to put something up on the Dog that was quick and everyone could add to.

“This is great for the neighbours’ kids as it gives them something to do.

“It doesn’t help things much but hopefully the NHS workers who go past like it.”

Designer Lucy was similarly sad to see The Ginger Dog close.

“What we all want right now is to go to the pub and chat about what’s happening,” she said.

“It’s tough but we’ll get through it. At least this will brighten the street.”

Owner Pamela was thrilled with the result.

“It’s exactly what we wanted,” she said.

  • At The Argus, we are championing the work of traders during the coronavirus pandemic as part of our #BackingSussexBusiness campaign. We are always interested to hear how the community is coming together in this crisis. If you know of a local business battling to do all it can in these tough times and/or offering support to the local community, please get in touch at laurie.churchman@theargus.co.uk and rose.lock@theargus.co.uk.