There are some conversations that are easier to have in relaxed surroundings.
Sometimes, the best place to start is at a table. In a pub. With a pint/soft drink/brew and a bag of crisps, with someone saying, “Go on then; how are you, really?”
That was the heart of Tūn Brewing’s recent collaboration with The Burnt Chef Project: to make space for honest, human conversation about mental health in hospitality. Not as a corporate box-ticking exercise. Not as a one-off ‘awareness day’ post that disappears into the feed. But as something real, local, useful and, hopefully, lasting.
On 11th May 2026, Tūn Brewing co-hosted an event with The Burnt Chef Project at Strange Brew in Chorlton. The purpose was simple, but important: raise awareness of mental health struggles, especially for people working in hospitality; raise funds for The Burnt Chef Project; and begin a wider conversation about reclaiming pubs as social hubs where people can talk openly, without shame, awkwardness or needing to have all the right words.
What is The Burnt Chef Project?
The Burnt Chef Project exists to tackle mental health stigma in the hospitality industry through education, awareness and support for people who may be struggling with their wellbeing. Their mission is not abstract. It is practical, industry-specific and built around the reality of hospitality: long hours, late finishes, pressure, performance, people-pleasing, physical exhaustion and the strange skill of smiling through a shift when life is very much not smiling back. The organisation describes itself as a global non-profit social enterprise dedicated to stamping out mental health stigma in hospitality, while providing education and support to those who need it.
The event at Strange Brew was about bringing that mission into a familiar setting. Because for many of us, pubs are where life happens. Birthdays. Breakups. “One quick one” that becomes a three-hour debrief. Sunday roasts. Post-shift pints. Bad jokes. Big news. Quiet corners. Familiar faces. In their best form, pubs are not just places that serve drinks; they are places that hold people.
Reclaiming pubs as social hubs
That is why the idea of reclaiming pubs as places for mental health conversations matters so much. We are not talking about turning every pub into a therapy room. Nobody is suggesting the fruit machine should be replaced by a laminated feelings wheel, tempting though that may be. The point is softer, and perhaps more powerful: pubs can be everyday places where people feel allowed to check in with each other.
A pub can make difficult conversations feel less clinical. It can take the pressure off. You do not have to sit face-to-face like you are in an interview. You can talk while looking at the bar, watching people come and go, or fiddling with a beer mat until it gives up on life. For hospitality workers in particular, the pub is also part of the landscape of work, friendship and community. It is where teams gather after shifts, where industry people cross paths, and where the line “you alright?” is heard a hundred times a week – but not always answered honestly.
What Tūn Brewing brought to the conversation
Tūn Brewing’s founder, Richard Alston, helped bring that honesty into the room. Richard spoke not only as Tūn’s founder, but also from lived experience of mental health challenges and from his professional perspective as a psychiatrist. That combination matters. It bridges two worlds that are too often kept separate: the personal and the professional. The pint and the prescription pad. The everyday struggle and the clinical reality.
Richard shared how important it can be to have something grounding during difficult periods. For him, Tūn Brewing became that outlet: something creative, practical and connecting. Brewing, building, sharing, hosting, making something tangible – these things can offer rhythm when life feels chaotic. They can provide a reason to get up, a structure to return to, and a community to keep coming back to.
He also spoke about stigma. That small but heavy word that stops people from saying “I’m struggling” until the struggle has grown teeth. Stigma tells people they should be able to cope. It tells chefs, bar staff, managers, servers, cleaners, drivers, owners and everyone in between that exhaustion is just part of the job. It whispers that asking for help is weakness, or that everyone else is managing fine, so you should too.
But that whisper is wrong.
The Burnt Chef Project’s own research has shown how widespread mental health challenges are in hospitality. In a 2020 survey of 1,273 hospitality professionals, 84% of respondents said they had experienced mental health issues during their career, and 46% said they would not feel comfortable talking about their health concerns with colleagues. That second number is the one that should make us pause. It is not only that people are struggling. It is that almost half may feel unable to talk about it at work.
That is exactly where events like this can make a difference. They do not ‘fix’ mental health in one evening, and they do not pretend to. What they can do is open a door. They can show people that talking about mental health does not have to be grim, gloomy or whispered in a corridor. It can happen with warmth. It can happen with humour. It can happen in a pub. It can happen in the same space where people already gather, laugh, let off steam and build community.
The event was also about fundraising. Donations to The Burnt Chef Project help fund practical support, education, therapy and resources for people in hospitality. Donations go towards the ongoing costs of work such as free therapy, education and support, and the website gives examples of how donations can help, including supporting someone through the UK text service or helping put someone in need through therapy.
That matters because awareness without support can feel a bit like pointing at a leaky roof and saying, “That’s wet, that.” Not really helpful. The aim is to connect people with actual help, actual resources and actual humans who understand the industry.
So what did the evening at Strange Brew really do?
It reminded us that hospitality workers are brilliant at looking after other people. They feed us, pour for us, host us, clean up after us, remember our usuals, recommend the good stuff, rescue awkward dates, manage chaos and keep smiling when the printer jams mid-service. But the people who look after everyone else need looking after too.
It also asked a bigger question: what if pubs became part of that support network again?
Not in a forced way. Not with cheesy ‘mandatory wellbeing fun’ energy. But by intentionally creating space, where hospitality workers can gather in a pub, hear from people who understand, share what they want to share, and leave with a bit more information, a bit more connection, and maybe a bit less shame.
That is the idea Tūn Brewing wants to explore next: monthly pub-based sessions for hospitality workers. A regular, informal meet-up. Part conversation, part community, part signposting, part reminder that nobody has to hit boiling point before they deserve support.
Because sometimes the most important words in a pub are not “same again?” They’re “I’ve been there too.”
To learn more about The Burnt Chef Project and what they do you can read further here.
