Community Spirit Restores Alhampton Inn: A Triumph of Local Collaboration

For over 350 years the Alhampton Inn has been a gathering place for the residents of the Somerset village of Alhampton, near Shepton Mallet. When the pub closed suddenly in late 2022, it was a huge shock for a small village with no other community meeting point. Accordingly villagers and friends quickly rallied to see if it was possible to save the pub. A committee came together and raised £120,000 from just 130 shareholders in order to fund a community benefit society to re-open and run the pub. Louise Sanders, Commercial Property Partner, supported by her team at Porter Dodson, were delighted to provide the legal assistance necessary for the community benefit society to complete the multiple documents required culminating in the grant of the lease of the pub to them. The pub was then reopened by the community in record time, less than a year after closure.

A year on, the pub is thriving, recently featuring in The Times. It has also won the prestigious Prince of Wales Award of Honour 2024, with the accolade: ‘The Alhampton Inn represents a rescue project for a very rural village with no other amenities’, supported by the Duchy of Cornwall and presented by the Royal Bath and West of England Society, marking its incredible journey in such a short amount of time to bring the beating heart of the village back to life.

To celebrate, one year on, the pub is planning a fun filled family day out on Sunday 25^th August 2024 to include activities for the whole family with BBQ and gelato during the afternoon, and an evening of live music and pizza. For more information, please visit alhamptoninn.com

Louise, along with the Porter Dodson Commercial Property team members who assisted in the work, were delighted to visit the Alhampton Inn recently, enjoying pizza and drinks and catching up with key members of the management committee who they acted for.