Campaigners calling on residents and businesses to help save historic Wing pub

Campaigners have joined forces to save an abandoned pub in Wing.

Last year, The Queens Head was forced to close due to soaring bills and rapidly rising costs, just months after new owners took over.

The owners gutted the High Street venue, and submitted a planning application for a change of use to ‘residential’, to include a number of new buildings on the site.

But officers refused planning permission for the Grade II listed building.

Now a group of passionate locals have launched a campaign to acquire the historic building, which is on the market for £595,000, as a community pub.

The group is aiming get the pub back up and running, while providing space for meetings, social gatherings, and events. Examples of activities include quizzes, wine tasting, cookery and barista training.

The group envisions a coffee shop service, with hot beverages and snacks, along with a traditional bar menu and restaurant.

They say while they hope it will be run by professionals, it will create some job opportunities for locals.

Campaign leader Tim Purcell said the group had already drummed up a lot of support since he saw the pub advertised for sale last month.

He said: “We’ve got around 90 people who want to get involved. We’ve got potential investors and even descendants of family who owned the pub 200 years or so ago. It’s just snowballed.

“Across the country pubs are closing rapidly but community pubs seem to do really well. We’ve got a tight community here where people help each other a lot.

“The feedback we’ve had is actually for simple things like a parcel drop off delivery service, to avoid parcels going missing and help people at work in the day.

“We could also look at events aimed at young people. I’m a screenwriter and so I could look at tying events in with the local school’s drama department and holding workshops to teach people different aspects of film.”

The campaigners are looking for support from local residents and businesses. A meeting is being held in the village hall in Wing on Saturday November 25 from 2pm to discuss the proposal.