The remote Northumberland village that asked the world to help save its beloved pub
An inspirational story of a community enterprise campaign. This article tells us:
Having lost its post office, shop, petrol station and garage, the beautifully remote Northumberland village of Ridsdale has a paid a price for the isolation that comes with such sweeping views. But now the community is following a national trend and banding together to save the one thing it has left: the pub.
Determined to prevent the Gun Inn from closing after its owners decided to sell up, Ridsdale locals have formed a group with the goal of achieving a community buyout and offering people the chance to become shareholders in the venture.
The problem is that the villagers need to raise a large sum of money by a planning deadline of 22 December – and there aren’t very many of them.
“Momentum is building, but we’re only 80 houses here and we need to raise £200,000 very quickly,” said John Bassett, 74, who chairs the group and has lived in Ridsdale for decades.
So far the village is a long way short of this target, but if it is hopeful of its chances, it is perhaps because the phenomenon of the community pub is growing.
There are about 95 across the UK, according to the Plunkett Foundation, which specialises in helping community businesses, and that number grew by 13% in 2018. The foundation says there is currently a 100% survival rate for the community pubs it knows of, with not a single one ceasing to trade – in stark contrast to the high numbers of conventional pubs closing every year.
Shares in the Gun are being offered at £1 each, with a minimum purchase of £500. The project was given a welcome boost when the crime writer Ann Cleeves retweeted the campaign and the locals suddenly received donations from as far afield as New York, Kansas and Michigan.