I went to the pub and came back with £10k in my pocket… I couldn’t believe my luck
A MAN couldn’t believe his luck when he went to the pub and came out £10,000 richer.
Mike Arrowsmith, 62, had popped into The Lamb in Builth Wells, Wales, and managed to scoop the top prize in the boozer’s contest.
The road worker for Powys County Council, who lives with his wife Debbie in the nearby Llangammarch Wells, won the ongoing Open the Box contest on the last Friday of March.
Pubgoers can buy raffle tickets for the chance to choose a key from a bag, hoping it will open the box containing the prize money.
The cash prize builds up each week to a maximum of £9,999 and now Mike has won the pub’s biggest ever amount.
He said: “I couldn’t believe my luck. It’s amazing.”
Staff wrote on the pub’s Facebook page: “We are absolutely over the moon for them, as they’ve been in every week and have been huge supporters. Some of the staff even shed a little tear.”
Referencing the night the Arrowsmiths won, the post added: “The atmosphere last night was incredible… we’re very grateful to everyone for being so patient… unfortunately we can’t fit any more staff behind the bar but we did our best.”
It turned out the jackpot prize proved to be an early present for Mike as his birthday is on April 1.
Pals of the couple took to Debbie’s Facebook page following the win to say he could now spoil her.
Since the competition started more than nine months ago, pubgoers have won nearly £19,000 in prize money.
Luke Dewinton and Molly Samuel introduced the Open the Box contest after they took over running the pub more than a year ago.
It may be some time before the pub sees its next big winner because following Mike’s win the prize has been reset, starting at £2,216.