Martyrs Inn: Dorset villagers raise £500,000 to buy pub

The pub closed in 2020 at the start of the first Covid lockdown

A pub that closed during the pandemic has reopened after villagers formed a company to buy it.

The Martyrs Inn at Tolpuddle, Dorset, shut in 2020 and the building was sold but residents clubbed together, raising £500,000 in a matter of weeks.

The project was led by resident Barrie Lovelock, who set up a limited company, offering villagers a stake.

A "grand opening" event is taking place on Saturday to coincide with the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival.

The pub's name refers to the Tolpuddle Martyrs - six agricultural workers from the village who, in 1834, were sentenced to transportation to Australia for swearing an oath of secrecy to their union.

The subsequent campaign to release them has become a landmark in the history of the trade union movement and is celebrated annually at the festival, organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

About 150 people turned up to see the pub reopen

Mr Lovelock said the village of about 500 residents had "lost its heart" following the pub's closure so, in December 2022, he called a meeting and suggested everyone get together and buy it.

"They all took to it like ducks to water," said Mr Lovelock.

"We raised half a million in four-and-a-half weeks."

Mr Lovelock said 1,000 shares were sold in the newly-formed company, mostly to villagers, but the TUC also took a stake.

By April, TMI Toldpuddle Ltd had acquired The Martyrs Inn and work began to reconfigure the interior and bring it back into use.

In June, the new landlord moved in and, on Friday, about 150 villagers turned up for its opening night.

Mr Lovelock, a chartered surveyor, said he was delighted to see the pub reopened.

"Now I can have my life back," he said.