Britain’s kindest pub landlord has spent almost three decades cooking Christmas dinners for more than 1,500 homeless people.

Colin 'Mad Pierre' Robinson, 66, invites poor and lonely people to join him at his boozer every Christmas Day for a free festive feast. He started the initiative while running a pub in Herefordshire in the 1990s.

The big-hearted landlord started giving away Christmas dinners in 1994 at The Bridge Inn and now packs out The Chestnut Tree Inn in Worcester every December 25.

Colin spends weeks peeling potatoes and on Christmas Day slaves for hours in the kitchen as he roasts 10 turkeys with all the trimmings for his 50-plus guests.

The six-course dinner kicks off with mulled wine and mince pies followed by prawn cocktail starters and then a turkey or beef main course.

His guests then chomp down on Christmas pudding and trifle before finishing off with cheese and biscuits.

If there’s any room left, his newfound friends are served tea and coffee before joining in singing traditional carols.

Colin said: “It was either 1994 or 1995 when it started for the old age pensioners when I ran The Bridge Inn in Hereford.

“I wanted to make sure they all ate. It started with that and then I’ve been doing it ever
since.

“I've lost both my parents and my grandparents.

“The Christmas lunch is almost an extension to my family in a way, so I can treat them like I would my own family.”

Colin spends the year fundraising to reach the £4,000 target needed to pay for all the festive ingredients.

His Christmas Day shopping bill includes up to ten turkeys, 56lbs of potatoes, 28lbs of carrots and parsnips, four bags of sprouts, 18 litres of gravy, 150 pigs in blankets, 24 bottles of mulled wine and 100 mine pies.

Despite feeding the needy for the last 27 years, Colin has decided to hang up his apron after he serves his final Christmas Day dinner this year.

The dad-of-one said: “I raise money over the year, in the region of £3,000 - £4,000 of the year.

“I take what I need for the meal and then donate the rest of the money to the foodbanks.

“People are very generous, I used to get money sent over from America, notes in envelopes.

“I spend about ten hours a day on Christmas day doing it. I spend about a week preparing for it. I only have three ovens. I have to cook the turkey, the beef and the veg.

“I do mulled wine, a sea fish cocktail, turkey, beef and trimming, then Christmas pud, trifle and then cheese and biscuits with tea and coffee to end on.

“I’m getting older now and I can’t spend that much time on my feet. I’m determined to keep the tradition alive and find someone to take over the Christmas dinners.”

Colin has run The Chestnut Inn for the last 12 years and has put on his free festive spread at all the pub’s he has run.

He said: “I’ve been doing in the region of 50 people a year. It was a bit down last year because of Covid, but roughly 50 a year.

“I must’ve cooked over 1,500 meals overall, but this year I want to make sure everyone who turns up gets a meal.

“It could be my last one, I still want to keep carrying organising it but I can’t keep standing on my legs ten hours a day.

“I’m still willing to organise it so if I can find someone to cook it, all being well we can continue doing it

“Anyone who turns up is welcome but I do concentrate on the homeless, people on the streets, people who are in hostiles, women refuges.

“I cook a turkey for one hostel and take it to them. I deliver it on Christmas day.”

Colin’s Christmas meals have also sparked festive romance for some guests.

He added: “A few years ago a couple of old dears came here on their own - a man and a woman, both in their 80s.

“They ended up sitting together, eating their meals together and they left together.”