How one Yorkshire Dales co-operative ensured it wasn't last orders at the bar

By David Parker

Last Saturday I experienced community engagement in action. I visited the George and Dragon pub in Hudswell, a small village in the Yorkshire Dales, which had just been bought by a community co-operative.

About 30 local people, from pre-teens to pensioners, were engaged in a mass clean-up of the pub and large garden which had stood empty and neglected for 20 months. 

There was no beer, but plenty of community spirit. Excitement, joy and a mixture of pride and disbelief at what they had achieved. 

There’s no shop or post office in the village so when the pub closed in August 2008 many residents felt the village was dying. After it had stood empty for nearly a year with no one interested in buying it, the villagers started to have a crazy dream: ‘maybe we could buy it ourselves’.

They formed an industrial and provident society, prepared a business plan, issued a prospectus and raised £224,000 in share capital, negotiated with the vendor (a bank that didn’t take them seriously at first) and bought the pub outright without needing a mortgage.

They received advice and support from a number of sources including The Co-operative Enterprise Hub.

With thousands of pubs closing each year, it’s likely that many other villages will follow the example of Hudswell.