A Wilsden pub is featuring in a national campaign encouraging people to use their local.

The New Inn is part of the month-long initiative being run by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).

Photos of bar staff at selected pubs across the country, including the New Inn, are appearing on posters distributed to about 7,000 hostelries.

The pictures were chosen from countless entries submitted in response to an appeal by CAMRA on e-mail and Facebook.

Jonathan Butterfield, 29, who works at the New Inn and whose photo is on the promotional poster, said: “It’s great to be part of this campaign.

“There is no doubt in my mind that villages and small communities can always rely on pubs as a hub for the community. But they can only survive if people continue to use them on a regular basis.”

CAMRA says pubs and the beer industry add £19 billion a year to the UK economy and employ more than 500,000 people.

Its campaign is taking place at what is traditionally a quiet time for the pub trade, in the period immediately following Christmas and the new year.

“The lack of trade in the month after the festive season could prove to be the nail in the coffin for struggling pubs up and down the UK, with 26 pubs a week currently closing nationwide,” said Mike Benner, of CAMRA.

“Pubs play an important part in the UK economy and need to be protected and supported. Our ‘Pubs and the Economy’ campaign does not only call on people to use their locals in January, but also highlights the importance of the pub industry overall and encourages people to support our call for a freeze in beer duty in the 2014 budget.”

CAMRA is urging people to lobby their MP in support of a beer duty freeze.

Visit communitypubscampaign.org.uk/ for more details.