Villagers have until the end of October to raise £100,000 in a bid to save a pub that has been at the centre of community life for 200 years.

The Cottage Tavern, in Ashorne, Warwickshire, closed in January 2024, bringing to an end generations of trading and leaving the village without a pub.

Now residents hope to buy and reopen it through a community benefit society (CBS), arguing it is about more than saving a historic building.

“We want to make sure that we continue to have that really vital heritage asset as part of the community, not just for Ashorne but for neighbouring villages,” said Kate Freeman, secretary of the group leading the campaign.

The pub’s freehold is currently on the market for £299,000. Villagers have already raised about a quarter of that amount, but say hitting the £100,000 mark would help unlock match funding from other sources.

Their efforts have been boosted by Stratford-on-Avon District Council’s decision to designate the pub an Asset of Community Value, meaning community groups are given an opportunity to try to buy it if it is put up for sale.

Freeman said the pub had played an important role during the Covid pandemic, when staff delivered meals to older residents unable to go out.

Freeman believes that makes saving community hubs such as the Cottage Tavern even more important.

“We have been in negotiation with the owner and they are aware of our keenness to move forward with it, but obviously we need the money,” she said.

“We would urge anybody who’s interested in saving rural heritage, saving part of our countryside, to invest.

"It could be individuals or businesses. For people who have everything, why not buy them a piece of a pub?"

A CBS is a not-for-profit organisation that operates for the benefit of the wider community, with any profits reinvested into the venture rather than paid out to shareholders.

The group launched a share offer to give people a way to support them but it has to end by 31 October under the foundation rules of the society, which are overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority.