Gussage All Saints' Drovers Inn campaigners buy their pub

Marston's PLC closed the pub in 2014, saying it was no longer financially viable

Campaigners hoping to reopen a Dorset village pub have bought the building and say refurbishment is under way.

The Drovers Inn in Gussage All Saints, near Cranborne, closed in November 2014 and was later sold but the buyer's plan to turn it into homes was refused.

Villagers who fought to get the pub listed as a community asset took possession of the keys last Friday.

The Gussage Community Benefit Society hope to reopen it in late May or early June.

The society said it had so far raised £160,000 through a community share offer and had successfully applied for a mortgage.

Society secretary Sally Marlow said: "We have got a refurbishment project that we are kicking off, taking about three months.

"We have changed the locks and we have got the boards off the windows. The chimney man is going to reline the chimney next week and we're getting the roof re-tiled. We have got a lot of volunteer helpers."

The group is continuing to raise money to for the internal works and equipment.

The community group aims to have the pub open again by early summer