Representative Image of a historic village pub reopening after years of community fundraising and restoration efforts, surrounded by residents celebrating (AI-generated image)
For 12 years, the Golden Lion in Ashton Hayes, Cheshire, stood closed after the village pub shut in January 2013. Their efforts culminated in the purchase of the pub in June 2024 by Ashton Hayes Community Hub Ltd, a community benefit society. The project received £360,000 in government grants, while the society’s first annual general meeting report recorded £311,250 in community-share investment by early 2025. The building then underwent extensive restoration before reopening to customers on 7 August 2025. An early attempt to buy the pub came in 2018. The society’s share prospectus records that an offer to the owner was supported by £196,100 in pledges from prospective investors. After securing government funding and launching a new community-share offer, the society completed the purchase of the freehold on 14 June 2024 for £342,000, according to the society’s reports. The funding included a £250,000 capital grant and £92,000 from community-share funds. The government’s Community Ownership Fund awarded the society grants totalling £360,000. The funding table in the share prospectus breaks this down into a £250,000 capital grant, £60,000 for additional capital projects and a £50,000 revenue grant. The community-share offer launched at a public meeting on 2 May 2024. The society’s prospectus set an overall funding requirement of £625,000 to cover the purchase, refurbishment and initial operating costs. Its original minimum community-share target of £250,000 was subsequently reduced to £180,000 in an addendum, allowing the purchase to proceed while fundraising continued. The maximum subscription remained £420,000. The pub reopened to customers on 7 August 2025, as reported by ITV News Granada and What’s Brewing.
Residents spent years campaigning to protect the historic building from redevelopment and return it to community use. The campaign brought a long-closed village pub back into operation through a combination of public funding, local investment and sustained community organising. The offer was refused, and the pledged money was returned. The campaign continued for several years. The project combined government funding with investment from residents and other supporters. Its return followed more than a decade of closure and a restoration programme funded through the community purchase and subsequent fundraising. Lance Warburton became the tenant. The Chester Standard described him as having extensive experience managing pubs, restaurants and hotels across the country. The tenancy allows Ashton Hayes Community Hub Ltd to retain ownership of the building while a tenant manages its daily operation.
The Golden Lion closed in January 2013. In 2016, residents formed the Golden Lion Working Group and began developing a plan to bring the property back into community ownership. Ashton Hayes Community Hub Ltd was registered as a community benefit society in November 2017.
Residents sought to protect the property from redevelopment and secure its future as a village pub. Its designation as an Asset of Community Value gave the community a route to pursue a purchase through the Right to Bid process. They received guidance from the Plunkett Foundation, a charity that supports community-owned businesses.