UK pub chain and brewery, Greene King, have pledged at least £250,000 to women's sport following the success of the Lionesses at the 2023 Women's World Cup and as part of their continued efforts to back grassroots sports.
Greene King has been helping support women's football specifically for some time now, having committed to airing as many Women's Super League (WSL) games as they can since last year and holding talks with inspirational female sporting figures.
Now, though, as part of their Proud to Pitch In scheme — an initiative that directly impacts grassroots sports including 10p from every pint of Greene King IPA sold going towards local clubs, sports centres, equipment and so on — the chain is doubling down on their support. Quite literally.
After already providing over £126,000 in funds to women's sports groups across the UK since the scheme launched nearly two years ago, CEO Nick Mackenzie has now pledged to double that amount in an effort to continue the growth of women's sport and grassroots support across the nation.
According to research carried out as part of Proud to Pitch In, Greene King found that the average age women stop taking part in group sports is around 16, with a lack of female clubs in communities sadly playing a big part in that statistics.
As per The Manc, the study which polled 2,000 UK women revealed that other key reasons for ditching group sports include the poor quality of local facilities, as well as a lack of interest from friends.
However, the inspiring success of the Lionesses at the Euros and, most recently the World Cup, has led to a massive boost when it comes to interest in women’s sports, with over a quarter surveyed (26%) saying they felt the success of the team had inspired them to take part in more sporting activity.
As Mackenzie himself put it: "The England team over the last year has changed women’s sport for good. We’ve seen a massive increase in support from our customers right across the UK as pubgoers flocked to their local to cheer on the team, and we’ve also seen a major uplift in women’s clubs applying for fundraising grants. It is vital we continue to build on that momentum.
Greene King IPA's Head of Marketing, Emma Hibbert, also detailed how "Proud to Pitch In provides grassroots clubs with grants of up to £4,000 to help with whatever their club needs to succeed, and the best thing is it’s open to any over-18 clubs, regardless of the sport...
"To date we’ve provided funding for some incredible projects so far, from rowing clubs to cricket teams and football clubs, and so far, we’ve given over £500,000 in grants to over 200 clubs, including men’s sport, women’s sport, and mixed clubs."
Quality stuff. If you know a local women's club or sports facility that could do with some extra support, you can apply for funding Proud to Pitch In funding HERE.
As for the Lionesses, the legacy they are leaving behind is truly huge and while they may not have lifted the World Cup this year, their influence secured another big win for women's football and female representation across sport in general last week:
https://thehootleeds.com/tag/womens-world-cup/
Featured Image — Jason Bye/The Manc Group/Lionesses
Business
Petition launched to save independent matcha stand operating from a Leeds front garden
An independent matcha stand in Leeds has launched a petition to save the business, after council concerns could result in its closure.
This front garden matcha spot is none other than Sips Matcha, and it's safe to say its become a firm favourite in Leeds, with more than 12,000 followers on Instagram.
Many of us have made the trip to the vibrant green, family-run matcha shed at its Little Woodhouse residential location, and tasting some of Leeds' best matcha while nattering away to Matt and Julia, but this could soon change.
The self-proclaimed 'tiniest matcha stand in Leeds' only just celebrated its one year anniversary, but now faces closure in the coming weeks after a retroactive planning application was rejected.
According to Sips Matcha, Leeds City Council has given them 28 days' notice to stop trading and remove the shed.
In this published document via Leeds City Council website, multiple reasons are listed for the decision to refuse planning permission for the bright-green matcha shed.
This electronic letter signed by Martin Elliot, Chief Planning Officer, lists spoiling the property's character, increased footfall, and a failure to comply with numerous development and design policies.
The full statement reads: "The Local Planning Authority considers that the design, scale and position of the wooden shed fails to respect the previously un spoilt character of the host property, resulting in an unacceptable impact on visual amenity and the wider street scene.
"The Local Planning Authority considers that the use of the shed for retail sales in this quiet residential location would result in an unacceptable impact on the amenity of local residents due to increased levels of comings-and-goings, demand for parking and antisocial behaviour including increased noise and litter, to the significant detriment of neighbouring amenity."
The matcha maestros have now launched a petition urging people to save Sips Matcha, labelling the painted wooden shed-turned-coffee shop as a 'Community Stand'.
Co-owner Julia has published a statement via the petition link where she details: "After being made redundant and at a crossroads in life Matt threw himself into making Sips something special - and it has become exactly that...
"Their concerns are that the shed is in a front garden, and that the business could cause nuisance - litter, traffic and parking issues. In over a year of trading, none of these have been a problem. Leeds City Council asked neighbours on the street for their opinion. Not one negative response.
"We are a registered food business with Leeds City Council, insured and hold our food and hygiene certificates. They have now asked us to stop trading and remove the shed within 28 days."
Leeds has been crowned the UK’s top construction hotspot
Clementine Hall
Leeds has been ranked the number one city in the UK for construction growth.
Well well well, it seems we've got another accolade under our belt.
A new survey has revealed that Leeds leads the way in national construction growth, outdoing London and other major cities. How cool is that?
It's all down to a number of factors, including high housing completions, strong planning activity, and thriving construction businesses.
The findings are all down to Astrak’s new Construction Hotspot Index, which analysed job availability, planning activity, housing completions and construction businesses across 12 major UK cities.
Leeds performed strongly across all key indicators used in the index, beating the likes of Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh and Birmingham in the national rankings.
Key findings for Leeds included:
1,343 live construction job adverts – one of the highest in the UK
1,017 planning application decisions in Q2 2025 – a strong indicator of future developments
4,327 housing completions – the latest government annual data shows the highest rate per capita
3,760 construction businesses – per capita, second only to London
James Coughlan, CMO at Astrak, commented: “Leeds is clearly a city building for the future. With strong demand for skilled workers, a thriving business base and thousands of new homes completed, it’s a great time to be in construction here.
“The city offers a wide range of opportunities – from on-site trades to technical and office-based roles, and with even more growth forecast, we expect demand for talent to keep rising well into 2026 and beyond.”
We can't say we're surprised, and although it may be frustrating for construction to be popping up here there and everywhere the city is benefitting from recent developments such as Aire Park and the South Village.
Danny Jones -
29th August 2023 
