Save Our Boozer is the compelling new factual entertainment series on Blighty that sees award-winning bar owner Jay Smith lead five communities as they revamp their stricken pubs, learn how to run them and take them over for good as part of a mission to bring back the great British boozer in their home town.

At the heart of communities across the UK there used to be the British pub – the great British boozer renowned around the world. But now, fifty pubs are closing a week, meaning that by 2012, one in six will be gone for good. We are losing our national heritage and the lifeblood of our communities is being drained away.

With the help Jay Smith, five different rural communities are being given the chance to fight back, to create the pub they want in their town, to bring back their very own British boozer.

Each rural location featured in the series has a local pub that has shut down, is deteriorating or heading for ruin because of a mixture of the recession, the smoking ban, rising costs and competition from supermarkets. In each programme, with Jay’s guidance, one town gets together to galvanise the village to get the pub back on its feet and, importantly, make it a part of the community again.

In this high-risk social experiment that never before been documented on television, we will witness the highs and lows as the community reopens its pub, learns how to run it and finally takes it over and run it for themselves. Everyone involved will work as volunteers and will be trained in all the necessary skills to run their pub as a successful organisation, ploughing any money made back into the pub.

Over a period of two months, Jay Smith will lead each community as they undergo an intense six weeks of training and hard work to revamp their closed down pub – and decide whether they are ready to take it over for good.

The pub will become a meeting place and offer quizzes, teams, entertainment and food. It will be the town’s People’s Pub, created from scratch by the people of the town.

We’ll be there every step of the way, to witness the highs and lows, the successes and the failures and to discover whether people care enough about this very British aspect of life to work together and fight against the odds to turn a failed enterprise into a successful business. Across the nation, our pubs might be dying out, but does the British wartime spirit of a community pulling together in times of adversity still exist?

Jay Smith observes: “These boozers are the backbone of British society. Lose them and we lose our identity. I want this series to really inspire people to get on board with my passion – to bring back the great British boozer.

“By showing viewers how these five communities get their own pub up and running, I hope others will be inspires to do the same. Of course, there is the risk that it could all go horribly wrong, in which case it may end up being an example of how not to do it! But if we can get communities working together to get their British pubs back, it will be good for our communities, good for tourism and good for the great British boozer.”

Tune in to Save Our Boozer exclusively on Blighty from Tuesday 8^th December 2009.