A small pub in Hampshire saved from closure by the community four years ago has been named pub of the year, with the landlord saying he was “flabbergasted his little pub has beaten off the big boys”.

The Wonston Arms, which looked likely to be lost to developers, won the prize at the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) awards 2019.

The landlord, Matt Todd, gambled by taking on the pub after 11 years as a regular. He left his job in corporate marketing to buy the pub in 2015 when it was due to be lost for good.

He said he had been left “speechless” by the win. “All I wanted to do was to get the little Wonston Arms pub in the Good Beer Guide annually, getting in there was mission accomplished. I saw that as a huge step … but once I got in the guide, there aren’t any pubs left doing what we are doing,” Todd said.

He added that the place was unique in that it was a “traditional English boozer”. He said it had grown in popularity due to word of mouth as opposed to extensive marketing.

The pub was derelict and empty four years ago when the owner and landlord, Matt Todd, bought it. Photograph: Camra/PA

“People keep coming to see it and telling more friends, and we got into the last 16 last year, and this year, blimey, we are the best pub in country according to beer drinkers … I am flabbergasted and stunned – our little pub has beaten off the big boys,” Todd said.

Last year, the Wonston Arms, near Sutton Scotney, picked up the award for best pub in the region.

Todd explained that the community put in a bid to save the pub three years before he had enough money to buy it, but they came up £75,000 short. He said this attempt to take it over lengthened the pub’s “stay of execution” and allowed him to gather the money he needed to make the investment.

“I was ready in April 2015 and bought the freehold myself, outright … but that connection with the community was never lost. I said if I do this guys, although you are not putting money in, work with me. The community came together to renovate the pub,” he added.

Todd said making the leap from the corporate world to becoming a landlord was a big step. “It cost me hundreds of thousands to buy it – a genuinely massive purchase,” he said.

The Wonston Arms is also the heart of fundraising for the local area. It has generated in excess of £25,000 from the pub community. Every month, it hosts a pop-up cafe, which has raised more than £7,000 for local charitable causes.

The local MP, Steve Brine, said: “The pub trade is not easy these days, to put it mildly. In this context, it is even more impressive what Matt Todd and the team have achieved. The fact he’s done so while staying so true to the values of real ale, a decent local pint and community is just great.”

Ben Wilkinson, the national pub of the year coordinator, said: “Matt and his team have created a fantastic rural village pub with a great atmosphere, by shaping it around the community and its needs. They have realised that it takes something special to create a sense of real belonging so that people want to come out of their homes and back in the pub.”