Skelton-on-Ure residents raise nearly £240k to buy village pub

Villagers have bought the Black Lion pub, in Skelton-on-Ure

Residents of a North Yorkshire village have raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds to buy their local pub.

The Black Lion, in Skelton-on-Ure, near Ripon, is now owned by the community after it was closed by its previous owners, Admiral Taverns, in 2019.

Renovations have already begun after the Community Benefit Society Group was given the pub's keys on 14 March.

Jane Mosley, one of the people behind the near-£240,000 buyout, said it had been an "incredible" community effort.

The total amount raised by Community Benefit Society Group members was £239,250, with a similar grant secured from the government's Community Ownership Fund.

Speaking to BBC Radio York, Ms Mosley said: "I think people are touched and impressed by what we're doing and what we've done.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, a tiny village like Skelton-on-Ure raising all that money to buy this pub is a pretty incredible thing."

Members of the community are helping with renovations of the pub

Ms Mosley said that since securing ownership of the site, people in the community had been busy clearing out the pub and getting it ready for renovations.

Villagers were determined to re-open the site by September, she added.

"The pub has been left just as it was on the last day of trading. Somebody has just put things down and walked out," Ms Mosley said.

"We're all about upcycling and recycling, so I think we can rescue the table and chairs, although I'm not sure about the fitted seating.

"The carpet is also squelching as part of the ceiling has come through, and the electrics are all to pot.

"It's going to be tight, but the determination and tenacity is there. Skelton's got it, so we'll do it."