Drovers Inn campaigners win CAMRA award

by | Thursday, 1 December, 2016 | Beer and Cider News, Pubs and Bars News

Drovers Inn Gussage All Saints

Campaigners in Dorset who saved a valued local threatened with closure have won the Campaign for Real Ale’s first ever Pub Saving Award.

The Drovers Inn, in Gussage All Saints, Dorset, faced sudden closure in late 2014, but after a huge amount of support re-opened its doors under community ownership just 20 months later. CAMRA was particularly impressed with how the Save the Drovers campaigners utilised every tool available to them to save the pub.

The campaign kicked off with listing the pub as an asset of community value (ACV) and persuading the council to refuse a planning application to change the use of the pub by submitting more than 200 local objections.

The group then put together a viable business plan and ran a series of fundraising events, eventually securing initial grant funding by working with the Plunkett Foundation, the national charity supporting communities to take on and run community owned businesses.
Once they were able to raise funds towards the purchase and refurbishment of the pub, an army of volunteers, ranging in age from 16 to 82, got to work to bring the pub back to life and it re-opened on July 9 this year. It now offers five real ales, and locally-sourced food prepared from scratch.

Sally Marlow, secretary of the Save the Drovers campaign, said: “When the Drovers Inn, our only pub, suddenly closed, we faced losing the heart and soul of our village and local community. What happened after is a testament to the drive and determination of a dedicated group of people from all backgrounds working together for a common cause.

“We are a close knit village and voted unanimously at a village meeting to fight to Save the Drovers Inn. The project brought our whole community even closer together.”

Paul Ainsworth, chair of CAMRA’s pub campaigns group added: “We are losing pubs at a frightening rate of 21 a week. However, those rates of closure would be much higher without campaigners like the Save the Drovers group, who are willing to pull out all the stops to save their local.

“We launched this new award to recognise and celebrate those fantastic achievements and hopefully inspire other communities across England to fight to save their pub from closure.”

The two runner-up finalists for the award were the Centurion, in Vicars Cross, Chester, and the Bristol House Inn, Weston-super-Mare.