New dawn for win a 10-year Pub after villagers battle to reopen it

VILLAGERS in rural Gloucestershire are toasting success after winning a ten-year battle to reopen their cosy local pub and stop their local community becoming a drive-by hamlet.

This week The Rising Sun in Woodcroft enjoyed a new dawn after being closed for more than a decade.

Residents battled for years to stop the closed-down pub being turned into houses or flats. And when they won that battle they had to raise nearly £500,000 to buy the building and restore it to the days when it was a community hub.

But this week they finally opened the door of the pub which is on a country road between Chepstow and the Forest of Dean.

And those who battled for a decade to see it happen say it has put the heart back into a Forest of Dean community.

Forest GP Michelle Hayes. who chaired the group, cut the ribbon for the soft opening of the new pub which will start selling food in about a month’s time.

It is being run by a professional landlord and landlady who have already seen residents flock to the pub for an open-mic night. Lynne Fletcher lived around 60 yards away until two years ago when she moved house. She was one of the first to sound the alarm after the pub closed in October 2011 and was purchased by Worthy Developments Ltd towards the end of 2012.

“It was a great little pub and it’s where everybody got to know each other,” she said.

“It had a lovely atmosphere and was really friendly. A real neighbourhood pub.

“We weren’t too worried when it shut because the estate agents said it was being sold as a pub. The first indication something was wrong was when a neighbour asked a workman how long before it would be before it reopened again. He told him ‘It’ll never open as a pub again mate’.”

Over the years the residents battled planning applications and appeals. The Forest of Dean District Council even declared it as a community asset in 2013, but the right to buy only applies when the owner decides to sell it.

The new owners questioned its viaA

bility as a pub saying it had been on the market for nearly 12 months before they bought it to convert into two semidetached houses. But at the end of last year after years of battling they finally agreed to sell to the group Save Our Sun.

The community sold shares at £100 each and held fundraising events that managed to raise more than £300,000 in total. A Government grant of £175,000 topped it up and they bought the pub earlier this year.

But it had fallen into disrepair so an army of volunteers moved in and spent months turning it back into the cosy local they remembered. After a mammoth effort the newly restored pub finally opened this week.

Lynne said: “It’s been a long fight and to be honest there were times we probably would have given up without Michelle, but she doggedly stuck at it. She’s been incredible and so have all the volunteers who either bought shares, helped do all the work or donated stuff.

“It’s the sort of village that people drive through. Now when people come up the hill they see the pub all lit up and it looks cosy and inviting.

“Although it’s not the best time to reopen a pub, I think people are just so glad to see it open again they will come out and support it. For years people would move in and never get to know their neighbours. Now there’s a place to meet up and make friends. It’s really put the heart back in the village.”

The pub is being run by professional landlady and landlord Michelle Lewis and Mark Whitehead who have years of experience in the trade. And you don’t have to be local to go there because villagers say all are welcome.

I think people are just so glad to see it open again they will come out and support it LYNNE FLETCHER, SAVE OUR SUN CAMPAIGNER

The Rising Sun in Woodcroft