Kingston Green Business Challenge Case Studies

The Lamb is a Surbiton-based pub and a community hub. A family-run free house, the Lamb is very involved with the local community, especially in encouraging creative and sustainable activities. The business has been a Kingston Green Business Community member since December 2022 and has supported several community initiatives that emphasise businesses’ journey to achieving Net Zero.

Sustainability Journey with Green Business Challenge

The key motivation for Adam Lewis, owner of The Lamb pub, to apply to Kingston’s Green Business Challenge was his passion for and active involvement in green lobbying. The main driving force behind The Lamb's participation in this initiative was the desire to make a positive impact.

The primary focus areas included monitoring waste, gas, and electricity usage during their journey. One of the major improvements made by The Lamb as part of the scheme was installing a separate boiler for one of their toilets.

“Our old boiler was installed in the loft and due to its distance from the men’s toilet it used to take a while for the hot water to reach, leading to longer tap running time.”

As part of the initiative, a new separate boiler was installed close to the toilet that reduced the tap running time significantly.  

Energy efficiency and business opportunities: The Lamb’s green journey

Cost savings have been the primary benefit of the pilot scheme for the pub. They managed to reduce gas and electricity costs by 10%, as well as decrease waste volume by approximately 10%. The Green Business Challenge has also brought new business and financial opportunities for The Lamb.

In addition to reducing costs and waste, the knowledge gained throughout the process helped the business better understand their energy and gas usage. This enabled them to participate in another initiative, the Energy Audits programme, supported by Kingston Council. The programme is being run across London as part of the Mayor of London's Better Futures initiative.

“The support received from the Kingston Council has been amazing and very helpful. We have used all the support provided to make as much improvements as possible. The support received from the Council has been very welcomed.” 

Way forward

Introducing more people to schemes like the Green Business Challenge would be a real benefit to help the borough’s transition to a greener economy, says the pub owner. 

“Even with the knowledge I had, the initiative gave me the adequate tools to make an actual difference. There are some lights that I am yet to replace, I will do these once those that we have run out.”

The Lamb recommends that businesses buy local and support local jobs because the long-term costs are incalculable. Adam firmly believes in repairing as much as possible and being responsible when replacing and disposing of items. Instead of opting for an easy fix, Adam advocates for delving deeper to understand the lifecycle of products. 

"With every decision we make, put the environment first".