OVERJOYED Seighford residents who invested their own cash to buy the village pub will open the venue on November 28 - following months of work and a battle to find a landlord.
The Hollybush has scored a major coup as Titanic Brewery has agreed to come on board to manage the pub.
It marks the end of almost a year of hard slog for villagers, desperate to save the building from developers when it was offered for sale last year.
Seighford landowner Robert Eld proposed the idea and organised a meeting with residents. There was overwhelming support with villagers rushing to get involved and pledge their cash.
They bought the pub for £199,000 at auction in March and since then have been working to bring it up to scratch.
They have also been hunting for a licensee.
Brewery boss Dave Bott, who lives in nearby Great Bridgeford, was already involved as a shareholder but was reluctant to take it on as a Titanic pub.
He told the Newsletter this week: “As a brewery we don’t normally take on this type of country dining pub.
“However, I thought about it and having taken on a pub in Leek last year, which had the dining aspect I felt we learned enough to be able to do it.
"I know the area and the people and already know we’re going to have at least 70 regular customers.
“The past eight or nine months have been spent making the building water tight and habitable.
"We now have a designer coming in and plans to do work, such as restoring fireplaces and making it a proper country pub.
"The managers seewe put in will get on running it and will report to me. If the shareholders have issues they will be reported at our board meetings.”
November 28 will be the official opening if the work goes to plan, with all the shareholders and dignitaries being invited.
Community members are also hoping to open a shop somewhere in the village.
Mr Eld added: “Our hope is that it will be community orientated and that we can open to serve breakfast and provide newspapers.
“We had hoped to create a community shop here if it was viable but it isn’t at the moment.
"However, there are some other potential sites that we could look to develop as a shop.
“We have got the best of both worlds with Titanic being involved in the pub. I would like to thank all those people who invested and got involved. Without them it wouldn’t have been possible.”
