Award for community group who reopened village pub

A community group has won a national award in recognition of their efforts to save their village pub from permanent closure.

The Old Horn Inn in Spennithorne, North Yorkshire, was reopened under community ownership in May after locals raised about £200,000 through a share scheme.

Their efforts have been recognised by The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), who announced the Old Horn Community Pub Society as the winners of their Pub Saving Award 2024.

Alan Cape, the group's treasurer, said the award "goes to the whole community" and would take pride of place inside the Georgian inn.

"It's a huge sense of pride for the whole community," added the retired accountant.

"It was a real community effort - we had people helping from children all the way to people in their 80s. An awful lot of it was unpaid."

Mr Cape said 174 shareholders, many of them local, pledged enough financial support during a four-week window to convince him the pub could reopen.

The group then secured a government grant of almost £200,000 to help buy and restore the pub, which had been earmarked for housing after it closed in June 2022.

"When it closed some of the villagers said to me it felt as though the heart had been taken out of the village," said Mr Cape, who is originally from Stirling but has lived in Spennithorne for 20 years.

"Now we have got something back and it's great. It's really down to the community."

The pub, which is more than 200 years old, now hosts football, cricket, darts and dominoes teams from the village, as well as quiz nights, coffee mornings and a "knit and natter" group.

CAMRA's Pub Saving Award coordinator Paul Ainsworth said he hoped others would be inspired by the efforts of the Old Horn Community Pub Society.

"When a pub closes, it is incredibly hard to open the doors again, with many losing the battle to conversion or demolition.

"That is why these awards are so important, the hard work and dedication shown by these campaigns to save local pubs deserve recognition."

Mr Cape said business had been "steady" since the pub reopened and revealed the group had received a further £50,000 grant to expand the pub's dining room and kitchen, and install a disabled toilet.

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