An award has been given as part of a campaign to save a community pub.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced Old Horn Community Pub Society who saved the Old Horn Inn in Spennithorne, North Yorkshire, as the winner of the prestigious Pub Saving Award 2024. The accolade recognises people that have come together to save a pub that would have otherwise been demolished or converted to another use. It aims to secure publicity for pub-saving campaigns to encourage others to save their local.
The Old Horn Inn, a pub over 200-years-old, closed suddenly in 2022 with a planning application submitted to convert it into housing. As a vital community hub for the people of Spennithorne and Harmby, plus surrounding areas of North Yorkshire, villagers banded together to form the Old Horn Community Pub Society to protect the pub from this fate.
An epic campaign began to bring the Old Horn into community ownership, raising £180,000 from over 140 investors in under two months. In June 2023, the community became the proud owners of the Old Horn.
What followed was a mammoth renovation effort, enlisting a team of volunteers, ranging from teenagers to pensioners. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak even visited to encourage the team’s endeavours.
The pub reopened in May last year, putting the heart back into the village, providing a community hub to combat social exclusion. The pub now hosts the village football, cricket, darts and dominoes teams, plus quiz nights, coffee mornings and a knit and natter group.
Pub saving award coordinator Paul Ainsworth said: “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. They are all inspirational stories that will hopefully encourage more pub saving campaigns, so future generations can enjoy the wonderful sense of community that only a pub can provide.”
You can find the latest food and drink news in Yorkshire and nearby by visiting our What’s On homepage. There you can also find days out guides for things to do across the region.
Yorkshire Live has launched Explore Yorkshire, which will look at Yorkshire’s unique identity and destinations and celebrate God’s Own County for what it is – the best place in the world. Whether you are looking for a day out, a weekend away or to try somewhere new, Explore Yorkshire is here to help. Our brilliant new newsletter will bring all of this content together for you in one place – sign up here to get it direct to your inbox .