Mum's praise for Wigan pub that opened early so she could safely have meal with her terminally ill son

Five-year-old Bobby Baldwin and his mum Emma Doherty have been shielding since March as doctors fear it would be fatal if he contracted coronavirus.

They rarely leave their home in Worsley Mesnes, but Emma agreed to go for a meal at the Foresters Arms, in Standish, after winning a voucher in a competition.

She had initially hoped to use the voucher after the pandemic, but owner Gareth Caunce first offered to deliver food to their home and then invited them for the meal at 4pm on Monday,

And Emma was stunned when she arrived and discovered he had opened the pub early for just her and Bobby.

Emma said: “There was just a chef and a waitress and the owner. Their first table was only in at 5.20pm, so they thought they would let us in so we could eat our food and go before anyone else came.

“I thought how lovely it was to get the staff in and do a meal for someone who isn’t even a fully paying customer.”

The pair enjoyed their meal and Bobby played with Gareth’s dog Minnie, before staff gave him pound coins to play on the toy machines.

Emma was delighted that she decided to go for the meal for the first time in months and said she felt Bobby was safe. The youngster has a terminal heart condition, only one working lung with reduced capacity, cerebral palsy and other health issues.

She said: “It was a bit strange. I was quite panicky before going and didn’t know if it would be alright because I didn’t know it would just be us.

“As soon as I got there and realised what he had done, I felt very safe. I didn’t know how Bobby would react with us not being out much, but he was so comfortable and took his shoes off.

“We had a lovely experience.”

Emma thanked Gareth and the staff, but also decided to share publicly what they had done by writing a review on a Facebook page.

She was shocked with the response, with the post gathering more than 4,000 “likes” and 400 comments in just 18 hours.

“I didn’t know I was going to write a review, but I thought it was the least I could do to thank him for what he had done,” she said.

Gareth was also surprised by the response and said he did not invite Emma and Bobby along to gain publicity.

He said: “I thought seven months in shielding is a long time. Our pub only opens in the evenings at the minute, but we have the chefs in earlier because they are preparing the menu for the evening. I thought we could open for them.”

Despite not working that day, Gareth went to the pub with Minnie and was delighted to see Emma and Bobby.

He said: “It was dead nice, it was lovely. It was nice to know they can do it and if they wanted to do it again in the future, it’s not an issue.

“It’s nice for us to be able to do it and it’s nice for them to go somewhere they feel safe and welcome.”

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