By RUTH LOGNONNE

Last updated at 21:47, Friday, 05 March 2010

VOLUNTEERS in Humshaugh have saved their village pub from closure, just four months after coming to the rescue of their local shop.

The future of The Crown Inn had been shrouded in uncertainty after tenants Andrew and Lynette Clarkson announced they would be taking over a snack shop in Hexham’s Market Place.

Owners Punch Taverns failed to secure a new landlord for the pub, and the couple called last orders on Sunday night.

Now, Humshaugh Community Ventures has stepped in to run The Crown for the next few months and prevent it from closing.

It is understood Punch Taverns wants to sell the business and has been looking for a buyer for some time.

Volunteers from the village have been granted a temporary lease and the pub will be managed on a daily basis by local resident Jayne Walsham, who was a tenant at The Crown for six years during the 1990s.

Director of Humshaugh Community Ventures Dick Moules said: “The last thing we want is for our village pub to be mothballed between now and the start of the tourist season.

“The Crown has had an excellent reputation and we want to keep it alive until the new owners, whoever they might be, can take over.

“Separate to the shop, there will be a band of volunteers to help run the pub – we can’t expect the same people to give up their free time at both establishments.

“We are a not-for-profit organisation so we can use any money we do make in the shop to fund projects, like this one, in the village.”

The Crown will now open in the evenings during the week and for longer hours at the weekend.

Humshaugh’s village store reopened on November 1 last year as a community run venture, following the retirement of shopkeepers Pat and Rob Gray.

l See also Humshaugh loses post battle – Page 3

First published at 09:46, Friday, 05 March 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk