Village seeks £100k to reopen 200-year-old pub

Villagers have until the end of October to raise £100,000 in a bid to save a pub that has been at the centre of community life for about 200 years.

The Cottage Tavern, in Ashorne, Warwickshire, closed in January 2024, bringing to an end generations of trading and leaving the village without its only pub.

Now residents hope to buy and reopen it through a Community Benefit Society (CBS), arguing it is about more than saving a historic building.

"We want to make sure that we continue to have that really vital heritage asset as part of the community, not just for Ashorne but for neighbouring villages," said Kate Freeman, secretary of the group leading the campaign.

The pub's freehold is currently on the market for £299,000. Villagers have already raised about a quarter of that amount, but say hitting the £100,000 mark would help unlock match funding from other sources.

Their efforts have been boosted by Stratford-on-Avon District Council's decision to designate the pub an Asset of Community Value, meaning community groups are given an opportunity to try to buy it if it is put up for sale.

A CBS is a not-for-profit organisation that operates for the benefit of the wider community, with any profits reinvested into the venture rather than paid out to shareholders.

The group launched a share offer to give people a way to support them but it has to end by 31 October under the foundation rules of the society, which are overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The Cottage Tavern was a popular meeting place for local residents and generations of cricketers from the village team, whose links to the pub stretch back to the 19th Century.

Freeman said it had played an important role during the Covid pandemic, when landlords delivered meals to older residents unable to leave their homes.

Their campaign comes against a backdrop of continued pressure on Britain's pub sector.

The British Beer and Pub Association estimates one pub will close every day across the UK in 2026, and has called on the government to provide more support.

Freeman believes that makes saving community hubs such as the Cottage Tavern even more important.

"We have been in negotiation with the owners and they're aware of our keenness to move forward with it, but obviously we need the money," she said.

"We would urge anybody who's interested in saving rural heritage, saving part of our countryside, to invest.

"It could be individuals or businesses. For people who have everything, why not buy them a piece of a pub?"

However, Paul Ainsworth, national planning adviser at the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said community buyouts could be challenging.

"The biggest challenge is fundraising, because you don't just need enough to buy the freehold of the pub, in most cases you also need some extra money to carry out repairs and refurbishment and get the place ship-shape," he said.

Despite that, he said community-owned pubs have a strong track record.

"There's now something like 240 of them nationwide. So it can be done.

"People have done it. It's not easy, there are a lot of challenges."

The Ashorne group estimates it will take about £380,000 to buy, refurbish and reopen the Cottage Tavern, but Freeman remains confident the target can be achieved.

"We are determined to make this happen," she said.

"It relies on the generosity of other people, but we are determined that we need to have somewhere that is available for everybody to access, to support mental health, reduce loneliness and support community cohesion.

"It's a part of our countryside and we don't want to lose it."

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