CAMRA has released the second film in its community-owned pub documentary series, this time focusing on the Travellers Rest in Skeeby, North Yorkshire.
The community gets behind the Travellers Rest campaign
The pub was bought by volunteers and the Skeeby Community Pub Society in 2022. After they raised nearly £300,000, the pub opened its doors for the first time since 2008.
The new film shows what it is like to campaign and save a pub, plus how to open and maintain a pub under community ownership. There are interviews with the pub’s key volunteers, staff, and passionate locals.
Documenting the local community’s efforts to save the pub, the episode highlights how the pub cultivated friendships, especially with its popular Leek Club vegetable competition.
Director Katie Greenhalf and producer Rachel Auty, in collaboration with Plunkett UK, have made an emotional and humorous documentary on how important community-owned pubs are in tackling loneliness and isolation in UK communities.
“This film series highlights how important pubs are to the wellbeing of our communities,” said Gary Timmins, CAMRA’s pub and club campaigns director.
“If it wasn’t for the amazing volunteers who campaigned so hard to save the Travellers Rest, it may have been lost forever, robbing people of an important social hub.
“Community-owned pubs show the difference we can all make when we come together. I hope audiences watching are inspired by the success of the Travellers Rest and look into the option of community ownership to save their own local from demolition or conversion.
“The government must re-introduce a dedicated funding pot, so community groups can get the help to save their beloved closed locals.”
The third instalment in the series will be released on 5th December.
Rachel Auty, of the Cameron Rae Consultancy and Women On Tap community interest company, added: “I loved meeting the committees, teams, and locals at each of the three community pubs. It’s been a real honour. Hearing their stories and learning more about their communities has been brilliant.
“I’ve always believed that pubs are an essential part of society, and now more than ever we need these local places of togetherness and belonging. These films reflect that.”
