'We came together to save village pub from ruin'

Some of the volunteers outside the newly renovated pub in Skelton-On-Ure

"There was no electricity, the carpet had white fungus, there were trays of five-year-old food - it was like a zombie apocalypse film."

Looking round the room, with its fresh paint and newly polished wood, it's hard to believe Paul Whiteside is describing the same pub 18 months earlier..

Ever since the residents of Skelton-on-Ure, near Ripon, got the keys to the once-derelict village watering hole, they've been working round the clock to transform it into a community space.

The volunteers got stuck into the task of making the water-damaged and neglected Black Lion fit for purpose.

"We did stagger out going 'what have we done'," Paul says with a smile.

"So many people with so many different skills have come along to help us get to where we are - but it's been a lot of work."

The Black Lion has been officially owned by the community since March last year, after it was closed by its previous landlords Admiral Taverns in 2019.

The group raised nearly £240,000 towards the purchase of the pub

Residents came together to form a Community Benefit Society to buy the building, spurred on by the loss of the village primary school and shop.

"It leaves a small village like Skelton-on-Ure with nothing, there's no meeting place, nowhere for anyone to just sit and chat," committee member Jane Mosley explains.

"Our idea was to have a pub and a hub, and that's what we've got."

The group raised nearly £240,000 towards the purchase, and secured a similar grant from the government's Community Ownership Fund.

"Then the real hard work started," Jane laughs.

Volunteers can spot their handiwork throughout the space; from the paint colour and the artwork hung on the walls to the hand-lacquered bar tops, made by a local furniture restorer.

The project brought residents closer together and highlighted what skills they had, according to Jane.

"The thing that's really got to me is the friendships and the relationships that have been formed through volunteering, and that happened really quickly," she says.

"My daughters went to the village school, and at that point in our lives we'd been here 26 years and we knew a lot of people," Paul adds.

"But since they've grown up and left, we felt like we weren't meeting that many people so it's fantastic that everyone's come together to shoulder this project."

Members of the community helped with renovations of the pub

The Black Lion initially opened as a café and small shop earlier in the year as the remaining renovation work continued.

Last week the committee announced that it had reached another significant milestone; the hiring of tenants Tadgh Barry and Mary Benson.

Since signing the lease, the York-based couple have been hands-on in helping to pull the remaining threads together ahead of the pub's launch.

"So many things seemed idyllic about the pub; it's a beautiful village in a beautiful area of the country, the community has really pulled together something astonishing here," Tadgh says.

"We could really see it being somewhere we could put our mark on, but also assist the community and bring the Black Lion back to everyone who wants it so much."

He describes pubs as "a last bastion" for socialising.

"There's not many places neighbours can get together and chat about their local community, and their lives.

"I can't speak highly enough of them as a place like that."

The same space as above, after being renovated by members of the community

The couple already have big plans for upcoming seasonal events, according to Mary.

"We're right at the beginning stages of it but over the next month, we'll get to know everybody," she adds.

"It'll be so nice getting people in. We just want it to be an amazing place that people want to bring their families to - not 'just a pub'."

Between now and opening night in November, there are a few jobs left on the list to tick off.

The committee is holding one of their regular volunteer days at the weekend to finish the beer garden, event space and external paintwork.

"We're all so pleased with where we've got it to - we even forget it was a complete disaster, bombsite and now it's a lovely pub," Paul says.

"It's going to evolve, and we don't know where that's going to end up and that's really quite exciting."

Tadgh and Mary's appointment marks an eventual shift in responsibility for the committee members, who will be able to take a step back, says Jane.

"We'll go lie down in a darkened room somewhere and have a rest," she jokes.

"I'm really excited for the committee because it's been hard work, but also for the village and the surrounding area.

"I think we're going to have something really special here."

After closing its doors in 2019, the Black Lion is set to reopen this year

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