London  - An English pub landlady has, in a bid to ease the pressure of the credit crunch, begun accepting local game and produce in exchange for beer.

Drinkers in "The Pigs", an ale-house in the Norfolk town of Edgefield, can quench their thirst in return for sacks of potatoes, freshly shot pheasants, pigeons or even the odd rabbit.

"If you have anything grown, raised, shot or stolen that fits our menu, bring it in and we'll do you a deal," reads a tongue-in-cheek sign on the pub door.

"The worse people are affected by the financial crisis, the more they love our barter arrangement," said Cloe Wasey, 24-year-old landlady of "The Pigs" on Friday. "Since the beginning of this crisis, we've been living in a boom."

At the current rates of exchange for the pub's' "beer currency", a pint of lager can be had for a kilo of potatoes, a kilo of fresh fruit, a dozen eggs or three mackerel.

"We are mostly offered goods that people have produced themselves, so it's much fresher and tastier than what you can get at the supermarket," said Wasey.

Pub local Derek Feast (64) agrees: "Because of this measure, we're more often in the pub now than at home." (dpa)