Community campaigners win award for saving inn from ruin
IT WAS a pub which, like many others, faced calling last orders for a final time.
But campaigners who saved the Puzzle Hall Inn, in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, had other ideas.
They fought to preserve the inn as a crucial community asset. Now they have been recognised with the Campaign for Real Ale’s prestigious Pub Saving Award for their efforts.
The Puzzle Hall Community Pub Ltd, a not- for- profit Community Benefit Society, raised £ 172,860 to purchase and refurbish the inn, which was fast falling into a derelict state.
The pub, a 17th century building located between the canal and the river, once included a brewery which had since been turned into accommodation .
Crowdfunding to save the local launched in 2017 and campaigners received critical social investment and support from Big Society Capital, More than a Pub fund, the Plunkett Foundation, Calderdale and the Key Fund. With their help, an offer was made on the pub the following year.
In December 2019, the pub reopened after an extensive refurbishment, which one of the judges described as ‘ a great community effort to literally save both a local and regional presentation’. Work to refurbish the pub is ongoing, with continual help and input from volunteers.
Sam Irvine, from the Puzzle Hall Community Pub Limited, said: “It is a real honour to be recognised in Camra’s Pub Saving Award. Obviously when we took on this project in 2017, we were in a very different situation to the one we face today with Covid- 19 restrictions. My hope is that we’ll be able to reopen the pub as soon as possible so that it can continue to serve as an intrinsic hub to the local community.”
The co- ordinator of the Pub Saving Award, Paul Ainsworth, said it was a “fantastic example” of what can be achieved by community groups.