Rishi Sunak is backing a community group’s plan to buy and re-open its village pub.
The group hopes to revive The Horseshoe Inn at West Rounton, near Northallerton, which has been closed since 2023.
The Rountons Community Hub Ltd is in the process of raising the £200,000-plus required to acquire the Grade II-listed 160-year-old building and re-open it as a community-owned pub.
Next month it will launch a public share offer. Mr Sunak has already pledged to invest in the venture.
He met members of the community group and supportive villagers in East Rounton Village Hall to discuss their plans to make the pub the hub of the village once more.
He said: “I fully support the group’s ambitions to revive The Horseshoe. They have done excellent work so far and I was keen to back the share pledge offer last year.
“We now have many excellent examples of community pubs in North Yorkshire at Hudswell, Muker, Spennithorne, Hunton, Exelby and Skeeby. I am delighted to back another venture which brings the community together to revive the pub and make it a hub for the two Rountons villages.”
The group was formed in late 2023 and quickly gained the support of the parish council and villagers at a series of public meetings. Working with the Plunkett Foundation, a charity which promotes community ownership of much-loved assets, it created a community benefit society as a vehicle to buy the pub.
It also succeeded in having the building registered as an Asset of Community Value which recognises its worth to the local community and provides additional protection from redevelopment.
Members of the Rountons Community Hub said having Mr Sunak’s support for their venture was very welcome.
A group spokesperson added: “We were delighted that Mr Sunak spared the time to visit and engage with our supporters of the venture within the community”.
The group had planned to apply for the Community Ownership Fund which Mr Sunak helped to establish during his time in Government. However, the new Government has scrapped the fund.
The public share offer, where those who have already pledged to invest in the venture will be able to buy their shares, will be launched shortly.
More information about the share offer and the group’s work can be found at https://savethehorseshoeinn.weebly.com/
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