LANDLORDS of a village pub have taken the unusual step of banning Christmas parties so their regulars don't become stressed out.

Philip Rees and Ian Wilson who run the Queen Vic in Rottingdean High Street have decided not to cash in on the festive period by taking bookings or having a yuletide menu.

They say their pub, which made it into Good Beer Guide for the third consecutive year, is just not suitable for large office dos and is an intimate venue with small tables.

Mr Rees, licensee at Enterprise pub the Queen Vic, told The Argus: "We don't lend ourselves to Christmas parties. We don't have a Christmas menu and our largest table seats ten people.

"We're certainly not against Christmas and have a number of events this month to celebrate the season."

Mr Wilson added: "People want to have a drink with friends and family without having to sit next to Chantelle from accounts on her third bottle of cava as she tries to make her way through the sales team.

"It’s amateur hour at Christmas. Those people who don’t get out an awful lot, then they go out at Christmas and get smashed.

"You might be flogging them for one month a year, but it’s not showing the pub at its best."

In the run up they will hold a number of festive events including A Christmas Sing-along with Brighton & Hove City Brass on December 18th and a performance by The Rottingdean Mummers Play the following evening. The pub will open on Christmas day but only between 12-2pm for drinks.

"This means our favourite locals pop in while dinner is in the oven. We give all our regulars a drink on the house, and it’s the happiest day of the year, and has a surprisingly high take in the tills for a low staffing cost," Mr Wilson told the trade publication Morning Advertiser.

And while the strategy will not be adopted by many in the profession, Mr Wilson believes that it has positive impact on the overall business.

"It’s busy, but we could definitely take more in December. And we don’t have the grief and the stress," he added.

"It’s inevitable that drunken office parties will badly change the atmosphere. People don’t want that drunken office party next to them, or a sad mass-produced Christmas roast.

"If you disrupt regular trade they go somewhere else, it avoids breaking people’s routine. If you break people’s routine they could find a new routine somewhere else.

"Staff enjoy working what would otherwise be pretty hellish, and we make it through the month without being run ragged!"

For more information about the Christmas events at the Queen Vic, visit their website.