Drinkers raise £400k to save village's only pub

The residents of a Cornish village have managed to fundraise £400k to buy the only pub for miles in order to save it from shutting.

The campaign to keep The Ship Inn in Portloe, on the Roseland peninsula, afloat first came about when St Austell Brewery announced it was going to sell the 18th Century ale house.

On the market for £550,000, the Save Our Ship (SOS) group was told it would need to stump up at least £350,000 just to enter into talks with the owners.

But, after months of effort, members managed it and said they now hoped to get it restored and "up and running in time for Christmas".

SOS member Luke Dunstone told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "The important thing now is to find a tenant, managers or people with ideas of how it might work.

"We're hoping that someone will be fired up by the excitement of the project.

"I don't know if we're the first community-run pub in Cornwall, but there aren't very many," he added.

Among those who helped SOS hit the target to purchase the freehold was Cornwall Council's Good Growth Fund, which gave a £15,000 cash injection.

"Sixty percent of the 90 or so properties in the old village have pledged money towards the project," said Mr Dunstone.

"We've also been very lucky with the level of expertise within the little management group. Legally, this has been a lot of work to get it up and running."

In addition, the group has just been awarded the Community Shares Standard Mark, which means it is now able to apply for different pots of funding and to launch a share offer.

The group has launched a new Crowdfunder campaign as well, where people can donate for a chance to win prizes and help raise even more money "to ensure a long-term future for this historic community asset".