Villagers' campaigning sees The Raven Inn saved and reopened

The group made three applications to Historic England to have the building listed, but all three were turned down

A group of villagers are celebrating a pub's reopening, after their successful five-year campaign to save it and bring it back to life.

The Raven Inn had been serving Glazebury since the 16th Century, but closed in 2018 and was set to be bulldozed to make way for housing.

However, Raven Inn Community Benefit Society (RICBS) bought it at auction in 2022 and refitted for a reopening.

Group chairman Peter Sturman said their campaign had "huge community support".

The building stands on the site of a medieval mill and incorporates two rooms of the original Tudor inn, which started serving customers at some point in the mid-1500s.

RICBS said a year after it closed in 2018, "plans were discovered by the local community that the owners wanted the Raven Inn demolished for redevelopment".

The group was founded shortly after and campaigning began.

When the group took up ownership of the pub, it was in need of a lot of refurbishment work

An RICBS representative said the group made three applications to Historic England to have the building listed, but they were all turned down on account of "faux timbers".

Undeterred, the RICBS continued to fight against the plans and in March 2022, managed to successfully purchase the pub at auction for about £275,000, with the intention of reopening it as a community hub.

Mr Sturman said there had always been strong local interest in the group's aims.

"We started our campaign and there almost 500 objections to the planning application for homes," he said.

"Without hundreds and hundreds of people, we wouldn't be here today.

"We've maintained huge community support throughout".

Peter Sturman said their campaign had "huge community support"

Maureen Parkinson, who worked behind the bar and was one of those who founded the campaign group said the support of the local villagers had been "fantastic", but the road to reopening had been a hard one.

She added that there were still last-minute jobs to do before the doors opened.

"The furniture only came on Monday," she said.

"I can't imagine what it'll be like [when we reopen].

"I'll probably be in a heap on the floor, crying."

Bob Eden, who was one of those who purchased the pub on behalf of the local community, said it was amazing how good the old building now looked.

"We just stripped everything off and the building revealed itself," he said.

"We removed the plaster and got rid of all the damp [and] filled about 25 skips of rubble and mess.

"Now, when people come in, there's an almost universal reaction and it's 'wow'."

The RICBS representative added that it was hoped the pub would now become "a focal point between the villages of Glazebury and Culcheth", which would promote "a joint sense of community".