Battle to save pub 'untouched' for 200 years
Residents of a Shropshire village are battling to save their unique village pub after the landlady of 74 years passed away in June.
Florence Lane, known as Flossie, had run the Sun Inn in Leintwardine near Ludlow since 1935.
The building, a Grade II listed cottage where beer is served from barrels on the kitchen floor and drinkers sit on wooden benches in the red-brick bar room, is one of the few remaining parlour pubs left in the country and has remained virtually unchanged for over 200 years.
There is no till in the pub, with money being placed instead in jam jars and until recently the only drink available was beer, with wine being added only in the last few years.
The pub has been run by devoted regulars under a temporary licence since Lane's death, but is now on the market.
An auction is due to take place on August 27 through local agent Jackson International. The guide price is between £250,000 to £300,000.
Locals have joined forces with the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to stop it being sold to developers.
Mark Haslam, social secretary for Herefordshire CAMRA said they were aware of at least one consortium of locals interested in buying and running the pub but that there were concerns over the price.
"Our concern is that if the pub goes to auction, we think the price has been pitched for development," he said.
"If it is ultimately sold, any planning applications that come through to not run it as a business we would vigorously oppose.
"In their listing of the building English Heritage describe it as one of the very last of its kind. It has no outstanding architectural attributes but is instead a piece of our history. If we can find a way of saving it as a business and not as a museum piece, that has to be good."
A website will go live in early August at www.savethesun.org.uk and there are plans to set up a display at the Great British Beer Festival to raise awareness and support for the pub in case it does go forward for planning applications for change of use.
