A 15th-century pub near Bath that was saved from being turned into flats after residents raised more than £1m has served its first pint after reopening.

Almost 500 residents chipped in to buy the Packhorse Inn in South Stoke, Somerset, from property developers who had bought it six years ago.

Dom Moorhouse, the project lead with the Save the Packhorse team, said it was the biggest community pub buyback project in British history. “I think people got stuck in because they wanted to save a beautiful old building, but also because they did not want to lose a place of social connection,” he said.

The pub’s rescue was partly made possible by the 2011 Localism Act, which allows communities to apply to their local council to have a building listed as an “asset of community value”.



Customers at the reopened pub. Photograph: SWNS.com

If the owner of a listed asset then wants to sell, a moratorium period is triggered during which it cannot be sold. The period gives community groups time to develop a proposal and raise the necessary funds to bid for the property.



In March 2012, the Packhorse Inn was first put up for sale by Punch Taverns and sold to the highest bidder, who revealed plans to turn it into a residential property.

But the village formed a committee with the aim of buying the pub back, and the act allowed them a period of time to gather funds.



The Packhorse Inn in 1965

The law allows a council to deem a building to be an a “asset of community value” if it is or was used to further the wellbeing or social interest of the local community.

Volunteers spent about 1,000 hours clearing out the pub’s garden, and 25 skips of rubbish were removed from its interior.

Sunday’s reopening was welcomed by dozens of villagers including Brian Perkins, 87, who poured the first pint. He was born there when it was run by his family, and he had the reception for his wedding to his wife, Edith, 88, there.

He told the Daily Mail: “I was very sad when the pub closed a few years ago. I would go to the pub every Sunday up until then. It was an honour to be asked to pour the first pint – a last bit of fame in my old age.”

Moorhouse said he hoped the Packhorse would inspire others. “We’ve proved to local communities across the country what is possible and we’d love to see similar successes elsewhere. It’s been hard work but worth the effort. It’s brought together so many people across the generations.”