THE Dry January craze is an attack on the already struggling pub trade, according to a North-East landlord.

In a bid to raise money for charity and improve their health, thousands of people across the UK have made a new year’s resolution to give up alcohol for the month of January.

John Anderson, landlord of the Half Moon pub, in Darlington, is bewildered by the trend and believes that pubs play a strong role in supporting the same charities that are now urging people to ban the booze.

Posting on Facebook recently, he accused charities of bringing his pub to its knees during January.

The post said: “Everywhere I look, people are being urged to go dry for January and give all the money they would normally invest in my little pub to them instead.

“I would like to point out that we have three charity avenues within our little pub and collect for them all year round.

“So why oh why have the charities decided to hammer a further nail into an already struggling industry?”

Speaking from behind the bar of his pub, Mr Anderson elaborated on his point.

He said: “I’ve seen so many adverts for dry January and they’re for very worthy causes, but why have they chosen to target small businesses like mine and the ones that will be affected by the knock-on, like the local breweries I buy from?

"This probably won’t destroy pubs but it doesn’t help when you’ve got rent, rates and bills to pay.

“I’m taking this very personally and ranting to everyone willing to listen – they need to think more in-depth about this and about what could happen to people like us.

“We’re not Wetherspoons and we’re struggling like a lot of smaller pubs, January is always slow anyway because everyone’s partied out and this really doesn’t help.

“The authorities like the police and council back this yet they’ll still want rates from us and it seems a bit unfair to urge people not to support small businesses like ours.”

Mimi Gordon, marketing manager for Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon, said: “We are encouraging our Dryathletes to be out and about during the month, visiting the pub and doing whatever they normally do.

“The challenge is to quit alcohol, not their social life.”