Berwick identical twins are Britain’s youngest pub licensees

Apr 9 2009 by Brian Daniel, The Journal

IDENTICAL twins from Northumberland are believed to have become the youngest pub licensees in Britain.

And the boys were also the last people to be given licences by Berwick Borough Council before it was scrapped last week.

James and Andrew Chambers, 18, are sons of Gill and Norma Chambers, 52 and 53 respectively, and landlord and cook at the Black Swan Inn on Union Street in Seahouses, where the family have lived for the past nine years.

The boys, who were born six minutes apart with James the elder, are already a regular source of confusion for locals at the pub.

Andrew works full time there as a chef and does some shifts behind the bar, and James helps his brother run the Black Swan when their parents go on holiday.

James, who is waiting to hear if he has got an apprentice welding job in Alnwick, opted to apply for a licence after being made redundant from an apprentice plumbing job in Seahouses just after Christmas.

Andrew, who is in the final year of a chef apprenticeship at Newcastle College, had decided he would apply as soon as he reached 18 after beginning work behind the bar when a member of staff went on maternity leave. The pair took their licensees certificate course – the prerequisite to applying for a licence – at Northumberland College last November.

Within days they were told they had passed and then applied to the council for their licences, receiving them on the final day of the authority last Tuesday.

The pair have been told that they are the youngest licensees in Britain.

James says the licence will provide him with a contingency plan and something he could retire to.

Andrew plans to either be a chef or follow in his father’s footsteps and own a pub one day.

Proud dad Gill said: “In these days when you hear all the things going on about so many pubs closing nationally, it is nice that there is young blood coming into the business. It is quite unique because they are very, very young.”

The Black Swan overlooks Seahouses harbour and is the oldest purpose built pub in the village.

In these days it is nice that there is young blood coming into the business.