Campaigners have taken a major step towards buying a pub between Masham and Ripon.

Friends of the Crown, a not-for-profit group, is working towards buying the Crown Inn at Grewelthorpe and converting it to a community pub.

The group was formed following the closure of the Crown Inn last year.

The pub is owned by Admiral Taverns, which owns 1,600 UK pubs. However, the company accepted the campaigners’ offer on Monday to buy the pub subject to funding.

The group now aims to raise a minimum of £450,000 to fund the purchase and refurbishment.

It has applied for a grant of up to £250,000 from the government’s community ownership fund, which is a four-year scheme to support groups in purchasing community assets at risk of being lost.

In addition, group chair Martin Glynn told the Stray Ferret it would then require a further £200,000 of community donations.

He said the group conducted a survey to find out how many people supported the initiative shortly after the pub’s closure.

It revealed a total of 96% of the 120 responses supported the idea of a community pub, and the group has since received £177,000 of pledges from the local community, Mr Glynn added.

He added:

“The fund opened this time around with a much shorter window than anybody anticipated so it was a huge amount of work to get our bid ready, but we managed it — with an hour to go!

“I’d just like to say a very big thank you to everybody who helped – it really was a team effort. We just want our pub back in Grewelthorpe, and this week has seen us make big strides to achieving that.”

Friends of the Crown hopes the new pub will “service community needs” and provide a “welcoming destination for locals and visitors”.

The campaigners say they want to provide good food and drink, rather than just a “drinkers den”, and provide work and training opportunities for local people.

The group said it expects to hear back about the funding application in a few months’ time, adding it will then fundraise for the remainder of the money in the months following.

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A village pub near Boroughbridge which was once well-known as a wedding venue and dining destination has been put up for sale.

The Crown Inn at Roecliffe has been listed by Christie & Co, with an alternative option for it to be let to “an experienced and credible operator”.

The pub, which has a function room seating 80 people as well as space for 80 covers in its restaurant and bar, is on the market for £875,000.

It includes five en-suite letting rooms as well as outside dining space and a car park, and the purchase would include “the majority” of its fixtures and fittings.

The description by Christie & Co says:

“The Crown Inn presents an excellent opportunity for an experienced operator to purchase a large, characterful hospitality property in an extremely desirable location. An established business which previously upheld a fantastic reputation.

“Historically, annual turnover was [circa] £1.2m (£25k per week net of VAT). In the hands of an experienced operator there is huge, tangible potential for The Crown Inn to re-establish itself as a bustling village pub, wedding/events venue and destination restaurant with rooms.”

The particulars say the owner’s preference is for it to be sold, but it could be rented for £60,000 per year on a 10- or 15-year agreement. A one-off payment of £15,000 would be required for the fixtures and fittings.

The Crown Inn has been closed for around a year, with the particulars saying this was down to “being underfunded and significantly impacted by the pandemic”.

Its lessee was Chris Hannon, who ran a number of pubs around the UK, and was last month reported by the Mirror to be facing bankruptcy after his previous company fell into liquidation in 2020.

The pub is understood to be owned currently by a number of villagers who bought the premises in 2018.

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A historic pub in Roecliffe, near Boroughbridge, is set to reopen on April 12 as lockdown restrictions on hospitality are eased.

The Crown Inn, which dates back to the sixteenth century, will open its doors again next week and has already taken bookings for weddings.

Bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve people outside from April 12 as part of the government’s “roadmap” out of lockdown.

Chris Hannon, managing director of Coastal and Country Inns group, which owns the pub, said he was “absolutely delighted” to be able to welcome customers back.

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Mr Hannon said:

“This has been a devastating year for so many people and we are fervently hoping that the easing of lockdown next month is the beginning of the end of this nightmare.

“We cannot wait to become the beating heart of Roecliffe again. It seems wrong that a tight-knit community such as ours hasn’t had a pub open since Christmas.” 

Mr Hannon added that the pub had taken bookings for weddings from June onwards. Restrictions on social contact are expected to be lifted after June 21.

He said:

“Our first wedding is in late June – and it will be a spectacular celebration.

“We suspect that a number of weddings have been postponed because of covid and we are more than happy and ready to host any re-arranged marriages and ensure they are very special and memorable occasions.”

The pub was taken over by Coastal and Country Inns in September last year.

At the time, Mr Hannon said the company wanted to restore the pub to its former “glory days”.

Its new managers, Lukas and Veronicka Alman, have previously worked at another of the group’s inns in the Peak District.

The pub has been refurbished and is offering food and drink, accommodation and events space.

The Crown Inn at Roecliffe has reopened with new owners and managers in the hope of restoring the pub to its former “glory days”.

The inn, in the village near Boroughbridge, went into voluntary liquidation last year under its former owners. It has been bought by the Coastal and Country Inns group, which owns three other inns in the UK.

Despite its owners saying the midst of a pandemic “could be the worst time to open,” they have spoken of their gratitude for the warm welcome from local residents.

Chris Hannon, managing director of Coastal & Country, said:

“We’ve been looking at it for over a year and we were excited to finally get it. This could be the worst time to open: we are either stupid or very brave, but the world has to keep turning and good pubs will always survive. We don’t want to mess around with it too much – we want to keep the traditional pub charm.

“We’ve had a fantastic welcome from the locals and we want to be a central point. It’s really important to keep it going. It’s nice to buck the trend and open a pub when so many are closing.”

The pub has reopened and hopes to continue to be a central hub for the village.

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Its new managers, Lukas and Veronicka Alman, have previously worked at another of the group’s inns in the Peak District.

The pub has been refurbished and is offering food and drink, accommodation and events space.