Pub saved by public will pull pints again

The New Clarence in Charles Street, Hull, closed in 2023 and later became an asset of community value

A pub will reopen two years after it closed following a community effort to save it.

The New Clarence in Charles Street, Hull, shut its doors in 2023 but a group campaigned successfully for it to become an asset of community value, raising about £250,000 through the sale of public shares.

It will now be run by The Hull Community Pub Society and will pull pints once again from Saturday 6 September.

Chairman Simon Berry, 62, said the group's dream would finally become a reality. He said: "This is people power; the public coming together to create Hull's first community-owned pub."

The pub has been able to reopen after the community bought shares and helped raise enough money to bring it back to life

Mr Berry added: "When you've got 460-odd people who have bought shares, it just shows how important this venue was to keep it as a local British pub."

But he said bringing the pub back to life was challenging with "unforeseen work" that needed doing, including the electrics and structural work.

"For anything to be successful, you have to have people believe in it and also we have to deliver something that people want," he said.

"We've got a community space where people can come where they can feel safe and they can have a pint and or a pie."

Simon Berry says the amount of people buying shares shows how important the venue was to the community

Landlord Jamie Reading said: "These are exciting times and we look forward to welcoming new and returning customers. After all the hard work, we are finally here."

The group had also received £300,000 from the government community ownership fund, which helped towards the renovations.

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices