NEWS RELEASE

Release Date: 15.05.14

London: UK

Soho pub, The Coach and Horses lends its support to the Animal Welfare Party’s EU election bid with a statement banner and staff decked out in AWP t-shirts.

Animal Welfare Party will kick off the final week of campaigning for the EU elections tomorrow at the Coach and Horses pub in Soho, London’s only vegetarian pub, which has lent its full support to the party’s EU election bid.

A banner will hang outside the pub urging passers-by to vote for AWP in the upcoming elections. Bar staff will wear AWP t-shirts, party leaflets will be on show and donations taken for the party.

AWP is one of 7 European animal protection parties, informally known as the Euro Animal 7, contesting the EU Parliament elections next week with the aim of sending dedicated representatives for animals to the EU Parliament for the first time ever.

AWP is standing in the London constituency and candidates include Meg Mathews and Dr. Andrew Knight, European Veterinary Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law. The party estimates it needs around 140,000 votes or one third of the vegetarian members of the capital’s electorate to vote for them in order to win the seat.

Supporters of the Euro Animal 7 include Paul McCartney, Nobel prize winner J M Coetzee and Maneka Gandhi.

Coach and Horses Landlord, Alistair Choat said “Animal cruelty and intense farming is no longer acceptable or sustainable. The AWP offers a real opportunity to voice that need for change.”

Lead candidate for London and Party Leader, Vanessa Hudson said: “We’re delighted that the Coach and Horses has backed us and provided a talking point for our campaign in the heart of Soho. The pub has a history of being a magnet for thinkers who challenge the status quo and that’s us. Time has come for animals to have dedicated representatives in the EU Parliament. This has become a Pan-European campaign and a moment in history as significant as any in the history of human and women’s rights.”

ENDS

Photocall

Friday 16^th May 6pm: Photographers are invited to take photos of the Animal Welfare Party kicking off the final week of EU election campaigning outside the Coach and Horses, 29 Greek Street, W1D 5DH

Around 20 supporters are expected to congregate outside the pub in AWP t-shirts, bandanas, animal outfits and carrying pink balloons. Supporters have also been invited to bring their dogs, some of who will wear AWP bandanas.

For more information contact Media on 07759704073 or email info@animalwelfareparty.org

Postal address: Animal Welfare Party, 71-75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ

NOTES

1 About the Animal Welfare Party

The Animal Welfare Party, formerly Animals Count, believes in a better world for people, animals and the environment. Policies are aimed at creating a fairer, more equitable and sustainable society in which the interests of the environment, people and animals are taken into account. Key policies include:

• Redirection of subsidies from livestock and fisheries farming to plant-based agriculture

• Phasing out of the practice of animal experimentation with binding targets for reduction and funding and support for alternatives

• Phasing out of farming practices with poor welfare consequences for animals

For information visit https://www.animalwelfareparty.org/

2 Making History for Animals in 2014

The past decade has seen the first successes in political representation for animals in the national and local governments of the Netherlands and Portugal. However, despite attempts, no animal protection party has yet succeeded in returning a representative for animals to the EU Parliament.

For information on the 6 other European animal protection parties contesting the EU elections visit www.euroanimal7.org

3. About the Coach and Horses pub

The Coach and Horses, 29 Greek Street, Soho, London is a public house notable for its association with the columnist Jeffrey Bernard, the staff of Private Eye magazine, other journalists and as a haunt for Soho personalities. Its former Landlord, Norman Balon, became famous too – in part for his self-proclaimed title of “London’s rudest landlord”.

The interior of the pub was recreated on stage for the biographical play about Bernard’s life Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell. The play was successful and Balon’s memoirs followed entitled You’re Barred, You Bastards.

There has been a pub on the site since the 1700s. The current building dates from the 1850s. Norman Balon’s last day at the Coach and Horses was on Monday 22 May 2006 when he officially handed over to the new owner Alastair Choat, who continues to foster the pub’s unique identity as a gathering place for writers and thinkers by hosting events and an excellent pub piano sing-a-long.