Villagers are celebrating after a project to reopen their pub was boosted by a £15,000 grant.

Essex County Council has chosen the Lion Inn, in Lamarsh, to be a lucky recipient of its Community Initiative Funds grant.

The funds are expected to go towards major electrical rewiring of the pub.

It is one of many jobs needed to be complete before customers can be served again.

Volunteers have been working hard to redecorate and refurbish the Lion Inn ever since it was saved by the community in August.

The entire ground floor had to be ripped up and replaced due to problems with rot in a corner in one corner of the pub.

A new antique cedar floor has since be laid and pipework behind the bar has since been renovated.

Ian Gibbs, a committee member who helped secure the grant for the project, said: “It’s really good news.

“The grant will enable us to get on with the rest of the work now and get the pub set up.

“So much of the inside has been stripped out and had to be sorted.

“Everything we have been doing so far has felt like prep work but now we can crack on and hopefully aim to be finished by the summer.”

More than 300 people joined forces to purchase the Lion Inn last year.

The pub has been closed since May 2016 and plans were in place to convert it into a home.

Those plans were thrown out however and an estimated £500,000 was raised by the community to buy the pub in a bid to reopen it again in the future.

The pub is still looking for shareholders to come forward to help with funding.

To get involved, visit https://www.lamarshlion.co.uk/