Community submits bid to buy pub near Wem
A company set up by residents to save their village pub from permanent closure has put in an offer for the business.
It has submitted a bid for The Railway Inn in Yorton, near Wem, which has gone on the market for £300,000.
The future of the pub was put under threat because the family that own it are selling up after more than 80 years.
It sparked residents in Yorton to launch a campaign to save the village’s only pub, which included putting together a community co-operative bid to buy the pub.
The Railway Inn (Yorton) Community Venture Limited has now been formally set-up.
Spokesman Simon Rouse said: "317 people have pledged to buy shares totalling £163,500. We have also received £100,000 from the Plunkett Foundation.
"We will look to raise other funds through grants and loans as and when required.
"We are feeling in a good place. The pub is on the market and we have put in an offer.
"We are one of a number of interested parties, but we are pleased it looks like remaining a pub.
"If other parties bid against us so be it. We will keep a watching brief and if we have to borrow and raise more funds we will do that.
"We are committed to the pub and most of us have a connection with the pub which goes back 50 years or more.
"We want to give it the best chance of success.
"It has been good dealing with a local family rather than a pub company."
The property is on the market with Halls, which says the sale of it is subject to a condition that it is to be used as a pub for a further 10 years.
