Campaign to save Horseshoe Inn, West Rounton, continues

The Horseshoe Inn at West Rounton, near Northallerton, has been a pub since the 1860s but struggled to carry on after Covid.

Since January, it has been up for sale with the price reduced to about £300,000. The owners said there has been no interest and applied to turn the Grade II-listed building into a house.

Concerned residents set up the Rountons Community Interest Group to try and save the venue. The planning application was due to be decided by November 27, but following protests, campaigners have been told it has been deferred until after the New Year.

A spokesperson for the Rountons Community Interest Group said: “A key next step for the community is to start collating ideas of how the community hub could work and we will be looking to gauge interest and give further updates at a public meeting in mid-January at East Rounton Village Hall.

“Other steps taken by the Rountons Community Interest Group involve carrying out more research, obtaining knowledge and speaking with others who have already succeeded in running a community pub and hub.

“We are also looking at how to apply to the Government Ownership Community Fund for financial support as well as how to form a co-operative to manage the Horseshoe Inn.”

Visits have already been made to the George and Dragon at Hudswell, near Richmond, one of the oldest community pubs in the UK, where a new landlord was recently appointed after villagers took over running the pub when previous tenants left. Members of the Rounton group have also visited the Travellers Rest at Skeeby, near Richmond, where residents battled for 14 years to buy back their beloved pub. In 2022 the dream became a reality and in June 2023 the pub reopened and has since gone from strength to strength.

The parish council is also applying to make the Horseshoe Inn an asset of community value to try and ensure it is offered to local people.

The group has been assigned a mentor by the Plunkett Foundation, which helps to explore getting government grants, and another public meeting is due to be held in mid-January to ask the community what else they would want from the pub.

The meeting will also consider asking for pledges.

In the planning application, the owner said there are three other pubs within a three-mile radius of the Horseshoe Inn and despite being advertised widely for sale there had been no interest or viewings.

The owner added: “It is obvious and apparent that the Horseshoe Inn is no longer financially and operationally viable.”