PUB landlords have thrown their support behind a group fighting for rural bus services.

The Prince of Wales in Foxfield is supporting the Friends of the X112 and its associated groups, which have worked to keep the services afloat after several were cut last year.

A number of limited community-run bus services are now in use down the Furness coast, in Ulverston and between Coniston and Barrow.

Stuart and Linda Johnson, landlord and landlady of the pub, are due to produce a special batch of beer to coincide with a beer festival marking their retirement in May.

Mr Johnson said: “We used to have a lot of buses running here and the timetable lasted until midnight.

“Unfortunately a lot of those have now been cut and we haven’t had that kind of coverage for years.

"We have trouble with people being able to get here so the bus services are really important for people, especially since the trains can be very unreliable.”

The couple were contacted by Councillor Matt Brereton, who along with others has been involved in a campaign to keep bus routes running.

He praised local councillors from Coniston, Broughton, Askam, Ulverston and Barrow in putting party political differences aside to help support rural bus routes, working hard to raise money and securing £1,000s in local members’ funding to keep vital links such as the X112 from Coniston via Ulverston to Barrow and the X7 route connecting Kirkby and Askam with Dalton and Barrow.

Cllr Brereton said: “It has been very encouraging that at the local level councillors have been able to work across party lines to aid this group and the routes it supports to provide funding, both directly and indirectly from our members’ budgets and to assist in fundraising and cutting through red tape.”