Yorkshire group wins Pub Saving Award

The Old Horn Community Pub Society, who saved the Old Horn Inn pub in Spennithorne, north Yorkshire, has won CAMRA's Pub Saving Award 2024.

The accolade recognises people that have come together to save a pub that would have otherwise been demolished or converted to another use. 

A pub over 200 years old, The Old Horn Inn closed suddenly in 2022 with planning application submitted to convert it into housing. Local villagers banded together to protect the pub from this fate, raising £180,000 to bring it into community ownership and undertaking a major volunteer-led refurbishment. The pub successfully reopened to the public on 21 May 2024.

"When a pub closes, it is incredibly hard to open the doors again, with many losing the battle to conversion or demolition," says Pub Saving Award coordinator Paul Ainsworth. "The hard work and dedication shown by these campaigns to save local pubs deserve recognition. They are all inspirational stories, that will hopefully encourage more pub saving campaigns, so future generations can enjoy the wonderful sense of community that only a pub can provide."

More award winners 

Runner-up was the Roxwell Chequers Community Benefit Society, which rescued the Chequers Inn in Roxwell, Essex.

CAMRA also revealed the Drewe Arms in Drewsteignton, Devon, as the winner of the inaugural Heritage Award, and the Kings Head in Bristol as the Heritage Award runner-up.

"Last year marked the one-year anniversary of the wanton destruction of the Crooked House pub in Himley, serving as a grim reminder that pubs in the wrong hands can sadly disappear," adds Ainsworth. "January is a tough time for pubs, so please make sure to support your local and seek out beautiful heritage pubs across the UK."

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