A PUB has come to the rescue of hungry pensioners. The Three Tuns in Ashwell now supplies residents of Wolverley House sheltered housing scheme with hot dishes once a week. The pub stepped in when North Herts Homes stopped using the Meals on Wheels suppli

A PUB has come to the rescue of hungry pensioners.

The Three Tuns in Ashwell now supplies residents of Wolverley House sheltered housing scheme with hot dishes once a week.

The pub stepped in when North Herts Homes stopped using the Meals on Wheels supplied by North Herts District Council.

Sharon Stanley, manager at The Three Tuns, said: "Every Tuesday we are cooking and delivering hot traditional meals for the old people's home in our village. "We supply at £5 a meal, the food is delicious and portion sizes are better."

She added: "To be honest if we got into the swing of it we wouldn't mind doing it more regularly.

"They are supposed to cook for themselves the rest of the time, but many of them snack on biscuits as they can't do it."

The pub takes the scheme around 20 meals a week, including dishes like stew and cottage pie.

Ms Stanley said: "This week we did a trifle - it was so gorgeous I nearly left it at the pub!"

The Three Tuns say they don't make much of a profit, that they are doing it for the community service to the residents. However, they would encourage other pubs to follow suit.

And Arbury councillor Andrew Young said: "I think it is an excellent example of a local pub playing a full part in the village community.

"They have their staff in to cook lunches for the pub so it is a good two-way system that keeps everyone happy.

"Congratulations to the Three Tuns for their innovative idea and well done to the residents of Wolverley house for joining in.

"I'm just wondering how long it will be before the pub gets some orders for pints of bitter with the lunches!"

A spokesman for North Herts Homes said: "After consultation with residents NHH took the decision to stop using the Meals on Wheels service provided by NHDC as it no longer met with our needs. The service has not been used by NHH since September 2007.

"At this time residents were given the choice to continue using the Meals on Wheels service themselves without the NHH subsidy, or to look at other options, which many have done."

Of the quality of the service the spokesman said: "There were a number of factors that resulted in our decision not to use them any more.