A COMMUNITY has been handed the keys to a village pub after banding together to save it.

The Lamarsh Lion, which serves Lamarsh and Alphamstone, closed last May and was set to be converted into a house.

But concerned residents started fundraising through a community benefit society to enable the pub to be bought and reopened.

More than 300 people pledged funds to buy the historic watering hole, which was on the market for £500,000.

The management committee, set up to run the project, completed the deal on Monday and picked up the keys the same day.

They now plan to transform the pub before getting it back open to the public.

Chairman of the committee Robert Erith said: “We completed the purchase on Monday and we are really quite excited. We don’t know how long it is going to be before we open with it having been shut down for the past year.

“It has been a tremendous effort buying this pub – we have had more than 300 shareholders give us money with anything from one share at £50 to 2,000 shares at £100,000.

“We are very, very happy as so many people in our community were prepared to fork out and help.

“It is very exciting for the community – this sort of thing makes this country pub come alive and really makes the village come alive.”

Mr Erith said the committee would now spend time assessing what work was needed at the pub to get it back up and running.

He added: “We have now got to get in there and see what we have got to do in terms of safety, what equipment we need, what people we need and then what kinds of things we want to do.

“We will certainly need more funding as there will be quite a lot of repair work.

“We still need more shareholders.”

The Lamarsh Lion has been on its site for more than 700 years which resulted in pledges coming in from across the country and overseas.

To find out more and to get involved visit www.lamarshlion.co.uk.