Stoke Ferry Parish Council appeal to help save our pub

Do we want to save our Pub?

Stoke Ferry has joined the ranks of Norfolk villages now without its own pub. But consider - many communities have rescued their closed public houses…just go to the Dabbling Duck in Great Massingham and see what can be done, or the villages of Shepreth and Reach in Cambridge where similar disasters have happened. The British way is to carve a triumph from a catastrophe. If we want to save our pub we have to do it ourselves. This means finding an ownership structure which allows us to effect the necessary repairs and then to manage the pub to make it a truly great English country pub. Firstly, I would like to hear from all those who have skills they are prepared to offer to this project – surveyors, plumbers, electricians, project management, plasterers, decorators, builders, groundsmen, lawyers etc.

If there is strong interest we will do a full survey of the building to see what needs to be done to make it a safe and exciting meeting place for our village. And we will need to negotiate an ownership and operating structure with the current owners.

Come on Stoke Ferry, we can do this. And we can do this well – we have the skills here in the village - so that don’t just save our pub but we create the best village pub in Norfolk.

If you want to be part of the rebirth of the Bluebell please register your interest today with the Village Pump, and if the will is there we will hold an open village meeting to make this happen.

Tom Ryves, Chairman Stoke Ferry Parish Council