Susie Johns knitting designer

WHEN freelance artist Susie Johns started knitting by herself in Greenwich pub The Pelton Arms, she drew some strange stares for a good few weeks.

But entrepreneurial landlord Geoff Keen had asked Susie to come up with an idea for a new group to bring in fresh faces with pubs suffering in the wake of the smoking ban and rising beer costs.

The knitting group, now two years old, has become the hub of the community according to Susie with 60 members coming along to knit socially on Wednesday evenings.

The trend has spread across London with knitting enjoying a massive revival thanks to social groups like Stitch n Bitch.

Susie told The Docklands: “I had never dreamed of going in there before but the landlord asked me to come up with an idea for a new happening on Wednesday evenings. I answered the call of the landlord as he wanted to attract a new kind of person to the pub. I sat by myself for the first six to eight weeks. People were bemused but we are part of the furniture now. We introduced it really gently and now we are really successful. ”

Members range from age 17 to 86 and people can borrow needles and share yarns. A chaplain is the club’s only male member at the moment but Susie says the group is really sociable.

“Knitting can be a solitary pursuit,” she added. “But here people can come down have a drink, compare patterns and help eachother out. In the recession knitting has really taken off. There is always something going on at the Pelton Arms and that has been important in bringing in a new crowd.”

The pub also featured in an Only Fools and Horses spin off in 2010.

See www.peltonarmspub.com for more information.