A VILLAGE'S bid to save its derelict pub has taken on a new lease of life after it was successfully registered as an asset of community value.

The Skeeby Community Pub Society has re-launched its bid to buy the Travellers Rest after being given a six month period to raise the cash to buy the building and restore it as a pub.

Society chairman Paul Bell said: “Although the pub has been closed for more than seven years, our recent successes of registering the pub as an asset of community value, and of the deferral of an application by the current owner to a change of use to a house have been encouraging.

“We have had around 50 expressions of interest, giving a potential level of investment that will support the society’s intention to buy the pub and return a valuable community asset to the heart of the village.

“We now have until May to put together a proposal – but ultimately it is still down to whether the current owner accepts the offer.”

The property, on the main road in the village, near Richmond, is currently up for sale for £175,000.

Current owner, Jon Whitfield, has submitted a planning statement to Richmondshire District Council planning committee which suggests there is no demand for a pub in Skeeby.

It adds: “The village is not popular for tourists and has both a limited population catchment and small trading area.

“The pub has historically failed to attract the level of custom required in order for it to be a viable business; and extensive marketing has generated very little interest in the re-use of the premises as a pub.”

Objections to the application to change the use of the Travellers Rest to a dwelling have come from Campaign for Real Ale, Richmond and District Civic Society, and around 20 residents from the village and further afield.

The society has also gained support from two other nearby community pubs – the George and Dragon in Hudswell and the Foresters Arms in Carlton in Coverdale – which now run their pubs as community-owned assets with tenants at the helm.

Mr Bell said: “Last time the society launched a bid to buy the pub as a community asset it ultimately failed because the legislation behind the right to buy community assets was in its early stages and our bid was not approved.

“Now we have registered it as an asset of community value we can put a proposal forward and we are hopeful it will be successful."

Mr Whitfield was unavailable for comment.

For details visit www.travellersrestskeeby.webs.com, or email thetravellersrestskeeby@outlook.com.